Thunderstorms
by CouldBe
Summary: Lillyan, grand daughter of Eragon and Arya is about to find something rather interesting about her history...it's better than it sounds...please review!
1. Dead

ABRAYDA

"Blue, blue the water, blue,

Blue like the sea,

Blue like the sky,

Sapphire blue,

Red, red the fire, red,

Red like the embers,

Red like the blood,

Crimson red,

Red and blue lightning bolts,

Dancing in the sky,

For king, for country,

For people and liberty

Falling, thrashing, fighting, slashing,

Oh, the red and blue,

Blue is flailing,

Red is thrashing,

Oh the red and blue,"

Abrayda sang softly to his daughter. The prettiest elf, just not an elf. Not a complete elf. She still had a tiny part of her grandfather within her. A part that gave her rosy pink skin and apple-cheeked twinge, a soft twist in the girls appearance that made her look alive. Lillyan, for that was her name, blinked up at her father as if to say 'tell me more'. She wanted to hear the rest of the tale her father told. Her father tickled her nose and laughed.

"Very well," he told her, cleared his throat and continued his song.

"Sky, sky, turning grey, the sky

Clouds over the battle

With streaming rain

With Pouring rain

Thunder, lightning! Crashing down

Blue and red are fighting

Red and blue

Blue and red

Blue is bighting, red is scratching

Blue is parting, red is catching

For burden and sin

For life and joy

Falling, thrashing, fighting, slashing,

Oh, the red and blue,

Red is fleeing,

blue is chasing,

Oh the red and…"

Lightening sounded in the distance, shocking Abrayda. Lillyan began to cry. Abrayda lifted her into his hands, rocking her back and forth. "it's okay, Lillyan, it's only a storm."

The flashes lit up the cave they were in, it was not big, but it was dry and homely. Healing plants hung from the ceiling to dry, there was a small well hollowed out between the rocks and there was a large bed for the whole family. The lightning struck again. The shadows of the plants flew across the room, contorted and claw-like before disappearing in a moment of blindness and insecurity.

"…blue" Abrayda sang quietly. His voice cracked. He was nervous. When was Eyra coming?

"The blue…the blue, she was stunned

As the red flipped on…on its back

The blue, it scratched

The blue it harmed"

The lightning came down again, too close, it was too close, the lightning. Lillyan was screaming now, tears streaming down her red crumpled up little face.

"Just a storm," Abrayda whispered, "just a storm."

Lillyan put her little hands into Abrayda's. He smiled, what he hoped was reassuringly. Where was Eyra! He carried Lillyan to the open side of the cave and looked at the sky. Black monsters lay above them, shooting fire and water at the same time. Then he scanned the surroundings. WHERE WAS SHE?

~O~

SYRAI 

Dead. DEAD. He was dead. Syrai glanced at the 3 year old girl kneeling on the ground by the river. He was only three years older with her, carrying six years on his back, but he had grown up much too fast. Dead. Her father was dead, he had joined her mother.

Syrai stroked Lillyan beautiful mane of curls. She looked up at him. "Syrai!" she yelled excitedly. It was the only word she ever said. Syrai swallowed. How could her tell her? How would he?

"Father is dead." He announced boldly, expecting tears, screaming, kicking. Syrai was prepared to be her punch bag for as long as she needed him to be. Lillyan's smile faded, nothing more. She closed her eyes. She looked peaceful. Almost asleep.

"Lillyan?" Syrai questioned. Barely audible she whispered back, "Syrai,"

_I am sad. _Syrai bolted upright. He turned around and grabbed a stick. "Who was that?"

Lillyan laughed behind him.

_Me, it was me._

_But Lillyan, I thought your father said you could not speak with your mind. _Syrai reminded her

_Of course I can. Just because he never heard me, does not mean I could not do it. _she replied

_Is this your first time?_

_With humans, yes, but I usually only speak with the animals. _Lillyan told him.

_You can communicate with animals, but not speak with them, Lillyan, _he taught her.

_I can._

* * *

><p><strong>so... what do you think? It is the third out of my three (one finished, one failed and one in working progress) fanfictions and by the way has NOTHING to do with my other two...<strong>

**please tell me what you think and whether or not i should continue this or just give up...Thank you! ;)**


	2. Different?

LILLYAN

Syrai was nice. Really nice. He was like a big brother. A big brother who look nothing like her with his golden-brown spiky hair and warm brown eyes, tall, and muscly, even at just twelve, but a brother all the same. Lillyan had lived with him ever since her parents had died.

She sat with her hands clasped on her lap and her feet in the water of a pond, thinking. At least it looked as though she were thinking. Really, however, the little elf-human was teasing the fish with facts beyond their intelligence or writing poetry in her head. Lillyan was unbelievably clever, even for elf standards. Her brain was like a bookshelf. Each memory was written in the appropriate book, put into the shelf, an extremely organised cupboard, arranged via size, clarity, importance and interest of the memory and put away for use. Then, whenever she needed to remember something, she closed her eyes and searched her cupboard for the right book. At least that was how she explained it to Syrai. What really went on in her complicated little mind was far from a mystery for the elf children.

Lillyan patted a goldfish on the head with her toe.

_Hello, _she greeted, sending the bare necessities of the elf language to the fish so that it could reply.

_Hello, _it greeted back eventually, shaking its head at the sudden amount of knowledge. It swam a little circle before nudging Lillyan's toe and thanking her for her gift.

_My name is…_it began. It spoke slowly, searching for the words carefully before saying them. _Fish._

Lillyan giggled, startling the elf children beside her, who were throwing food at the fish. They threw worried looks at her, Syrai sighed. He was the only one who knew and he had been sworn to secrecy. All the other young elves thought she was insane. There weren't very many of them. Just five, including her and Syrai. One of them, a tall, dark haired boy with tiny eyes and an arrogant and terribly mean attitude, laughed at her loudly, whispering into the other two elves ears. Syrai sat next to her and she opened the situation to him too.

_No, wait, I AM a fish, _the fish suddenly realised. It flicked its tail letting out a watery sound into Lillyan's, and from Lillyan, Syrai's head. The fish was laughing. _That means I don't have a name. _It remembered sadly.

_I'll give you one! _Lillyan told it, _how about water-glider? _The fish shook its head. _Flowing-gold? _The fish shook its head again. _Okay, messenger of seas then, but that's my final offer! _Messenger of seas sent her a mental smile and swam off. Adurni õ karráy, that was the fishes name. Lillyan grinned at Syrai, who took a deep breath. He was always slightly stunned at the touch of animals to mind.

Lillyan leapt up and danced along the path, her waist long hair flying behind her like a black flame. She heard Syrai running after her, but she could outrun him easily. He was strong and had the stamina of a horse, but she was quick, stealthy and nimble.

"Lillyan!" she heard him cry after a few leagues. "Lillyan, don't go so fast, and where are you going?"

She waited for him impatiently before running of again.

"I really hate that habit of yours of running off with no warning, last time you ended up breaking your arm!" He complained, trying hard to keep up with her.

Slowing down a little she answered back, _that was the trees fault, I told it to be strong!_

Syrai sighed. He had long given up trying to get Lillyan to speak out loud, and she had noticed.

Lillyan continued forwards, unsure where she was going, but sure that she had to go there. Whenever she felt that feeling she knew it was important. She had felt it the night Father had died, but the trail had vanished once she reached the stream. She also had the faint memory of the feeling on a stormy night when her mother had passed away.

She could remember other things about that night. Elves had a surprisingly early start when it came to remembering. She recalled a cave and moving shadows, her father's warm hands and a song. A song she had loved and only heard once in her life. Even then it had never been finished.

~O~

SYRAI

A gigantic mountain towered above them. A mountain Syrai could faintly remember having had something to do with dragons. Dragons! Oh how he would love to see a dragon. However they were extinct or so his teachers said.

"We are never going to get up there," Syrai informed her.

Lillyan raised her eyebrows at him in a is-that-so fashion. Then she leapt upon the rock and scrambled up it like a lizard, placing her hands on the lightly angled surface and propelling herself forwards with her legs. Syrai, reluctantly, followed her lead and in no time at all, they had reached the top, unfortunately. Syrai could see it coming, Lillyan falling off the cliff, Lillyan hurting herself on one of the sharp rocks, Lillyan…

_Syrai look! _Lillyan cried. Syrai forced himself out of his rather negative thoughts and searched for her. _Lillyan, where are you?_

_In a cave!_

Syrai took a few steps forward and peeked around a ledge in the cliffs. There, stood a gigantic hole, as large as a good sized house, as made by the humans, with scratch marks on every side.

Syrai strode into the cave overcome by a sense of helplessness.

_Syrai, look! _Lillyan repeated. He stood behind her sitting body and peered over her shoulder.

_WHAT is THAT? _he burst out, trying to make out features on the oval stone in front of him. It seemed unnaturally smooth.

_Help me carry it out, _Lillyan pleaded. Syrai lifted the stone. It was not very heavy, but then again, Lillyan was not very strong. He placed it in the sun and gasped.

"Lillyan, Lillyan it's an egg!" he yelled. Lyllian was too preoccupied to notice. She had her eyes closed and her hands were outstretched. Just as she was about to touch it she yanked her hand away.

"Dragon," she gasped before falling back. She propped herself up on her elbows. Syrai stared at the egg. Dra-Dra-Drag-dragon?

* * *

><p><strong>by the ways, Lillyan is pronounced Lil (rhymes with ill) -lie-an and Syrai is said Sarraye<strong>

**hope you liked it! please review (once again) oh and anyone who has happened to read my other stories could they vote on my poll...or read my other stories and then vote.**


	3. A Crack

The eggs colour was odd. It seemed as though it were constantly changing, as if every few seconds a wave of paint shimmered through the rock-like oval. At times it was the deepest, darkest blue that Lillyan had ever seen, and then it would suddenly burst into the green of grass or new leaves. Then at other times the egg would vibrate and turn turquoise, teal or olive green. It was fascinating to watch, but Syrai started becoming nervous about the way Lillyan was transfixed by the egg.

"Syrai" she whispered. She pulled the egg towards her (as best she could) and clutched it against her stomach, shutting her eyes until she heard a cracking sound. She gently placed the egg on the ground and watched the gap that had appeared in the eggs unbreakable surface. The crack spread, forming a tree shaped hole before a tiny claw burst out at the top. A few seconds later another one appeared further down the crack and a tail started waggling around in the middle. Then there was a desperate shrieking and all three limbs disappeared before there was a small 'bang' and the egg exploded into three perfect crescent thirds. Lillyan stared at the tiny creature between the three parts in unexpected surprise.

The dragon coughed smoke and when it was finished looked up at Lillyan and blinked at her. 'Gruach!' it croaked. Lillyan chuckled and cautiously reached her fingers out until they reached the tip of the dragon's nose.

_Hello, welcome to the world! _She said softly in its mind. It nudged her palm and then rested its head on it.

The scrolls all said it hurt. They said it was like a lightning bolt striking you for several minutes, that it felt as though your veins, muscles and nerves were burning and that there was agony for minutes you would wish never to live through again.

The scrolls were wrong. Lillyan felt none of those as the shining pool of skin developed on her skin, as the dragon touched her. She felt complete. She felt as though she had walked her whole life incomplete and that now she was whole. She felt a burst of energy leap from her stomach and rush up her spine into her mind, making it race and laugh, gallop and cry, scream and giggle. She blinked at the dragon and then her palm which reflected the light into her eyes.

"You're a dragon rider," Syrai stated dumfounded. She nodded and stroked the dragon again.

**!BUAH!**

Lillyan leapt up and backwards in horror, and realised with even more of the horrible feeling that she was balancing on the ledge of the rocks, she flailed her arms helplessly trying desperately to regain her balance. The she felt her weight lurch backwards so that gravity could do its duty, but then Syrai was there, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her back onto safety. He put her down. Even though he would not say it, not ever to the cousin of a queen, not ever to Lillyan and not ever to any other elf he viewed as above his position, it was clear his only question was 'what in the world was that about?'

Lillyan wobbled on her knees before collapsing forwards.

_Err, Sorry _the dragon managed to say _but I am reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeealy hungry…_

~O~

SYRAI

"We should tell our tutors!" Syrai exclaimed "The dragons still live!"

Lillyan glared at him. _No._

Syrai stared at her and groaned. _What do you mean?_

_I mean, no!_

Syrai did not understand, but realised he could not ask either. He had been punished for not sticking to the elves finicky rules before and was not planning on doing it again. He shuddered and tried to think of the circumstances BEFORE he spoke. Lillyan had become a rider, the dragons were still alive and they had their very own specimen. HOWEVER they had learnt a lot about dragon riders and how their loyalties always lay with the elves over the humans and dwarves. They had a lot of responsibilities and were constantly travelling. Why was that such a bad thing? OR Lillyan was scared that harm would come to the dragon or one of the other children would become jealous and attempt to steal it or even kill it, an unlikely event but it was still an option.

_Okay, _he grumbled, _but what then?_

_Well, first we need to get him…her…it down from here, _Lillyan pointed out.

Syrai agreed and started thinking. _If we put our energy together we could gently let it down with magic, _he suggested. Lillyan shook her head. _We could build a lifting system for it!_

Lillyan seemed to prefer that idea and started weaving rope to sling around rocks. Then she made the softest bed possibly ever woven and put the dragon in it. Together they attached the bed to the rope, the rope to the stones and then let the bed down carefully.

Lillyan practically flew down after it.


	4. Manners, manners

Lillyan

_What is the problem with that? _Adurni õ karráy asked. Lillyan was speaking with the fish again.

She gazed at her shining palm and shrugged. _I don't know, the elf teachers say that the dragon riders main priority are THE ELVES but when I checked in the scrolls it said something entirely different._

_What did it say? _The fish asked.

_Something about how every race is an equal, how the riders should be free and honest and…well, that is it._

The fish pondered for a while before coming to the conclusion 'your matters are too complicated for my primitive fish mind' and swimming off.

Lillyan through a rock in after it, _traitor!_

_Ow!_

Lillyan sighed and let herself plonk on the rock by the river.

_Is something wrong? _Syrai asked.

_Yes, where are you?_

_In lessons but it is terribly dull, _Syrai answered.

_Really? Dull?_

_Yes, we are learning about manners again._

_Well you do need a bit of help in that…_Lillyan chuckled. Syrai sent her a frown and she laughed even more before calming down and looking at the river. Speaking of manners…

Lillyan searched for the fish but could not find it and so left the message to a nearby tree 'tell the messenger of seas I apologise for my behaviour'. Then she crept into the library and searched the shelves for dragon riders.

There were many books as well as scrolls, so Lillyan decided to search a book for information for once. The read the spines of the books 'the boundaries of dragon riders' 'A thousand dragon rider ballads' 'a list of dragon riders'…Lillyan paused and slid the book from its place before falling back onto a seat and cautiously putting the book on her lap.

The cover was amazing. Hundreds of different dragons flew over, fought or stood on a barren landscape with no trees, then in the middle was a wise old man with a long white beard over which the book title was inked in golden letters. Lillyan opened it and looked through the index. The book seemed relatively new, the pages were crisp and white and the ink shiny as if it had only just dried.

The first chapter was about Eragon, the first ever dragon rider, but Lillyan had already found what she was looking for. The second Eragon, at the very bottom, on the very last page.

Excited she started flicking through the pages until the very last page appeared and she read; 'please read 'a thousand dragon rider ballads'. Lillyan had to resist the urge to slam the book shut and instead gently closed the book and retrieved the ballads from the shelf.

~O~

SYRAI

Syrai sat cross-legged on the floor of his tutor's room with the arrogant and mean elf child as well as one of the other two. All three of them were between 12 and 14 years of age and so had to have lessons together when it came to manners. His hands were placed on the floor, fingers outstretched and eyes closed.

_Syrai! _His teacher called. His eyes closed, he dragged himself forwards, stood up and hid under what he hoped was a table.

_Farr__ó__n! _The teacher beckoned the arrogant boy then. He opened his eyes and stood up, bowing to his teacher and walked over to the table under which Syrai was sat.

"Syrai, may we speak?"

_Stay hidden, you are deeply upset, _his teacher whispered into his mind.

Farrón let himself down to his knees and peered beneath the table. Syrai kept his eyes closed and his fingers apart. Farrón nodded and sat down beside him. Ten minutes went by, fifteen, twenty, half an hour, forty five minutes an hour. The boy let out a quiet exasperated sigh which he would have gotten a lot of trouble for if the tutor had heard it.

_Syrai let on, make it up as you go along, _the teacher told Syrai now.

He opened his eyes and looked at Farrón, "I am upset…"

"No, no, no, no!" his teacher yelled. "Syrai, why did you greet him? Or give him time to greet you? Your fingers are still apart while you speak and you do NOT burst out with feelings, try again!"

Syrai scowled at the floor, put his fingers together and began once again, uttering the greeting as he knew he must go first since Farrón was the son of an elf who was king of an island thousands of leagues away. "With regret I must say I dislike the elf schooling, I find it too…snappy," his gaze wandered to his tutor "however, if I speak my mind I fear punishment, I seek help, are you willing Farrón Ayresson?"

His tutor clapped. "Excellent Syrai, and what a wonderful situation, such a shame I cannot put it down as made up, why do you think that is Syrai?"

"Even in your eyes I may be rude but you know I am not dim," Syrai stepped slowly through the room, pausing in front of his teacher before continuing. "I have also read a lot MURTAGH Elda"

~O~

LILLYAN

Blue, blue the water, blue,

Blue like the sea,

Blue like the sky,

Sapphire blue,

Red, red the fire, red,

Red like the embers,

Red like the blood,

Crimson red,

Red and blue lightning bolts,

Dancing in the sky,

For king, for country,

For people and liberty

Falling, thrashing, fighting, slashing,

Oh, the red and blue,

Blue is flailing,

Red is thrashing,

Oh the red and blue

Sky, sky, turning grey, the sky

Clouds over the battle

With streaming rain

With Pouring rain

Thunder, lightning! Crashing down

Blue and red are fighting

Red and blue

Blue and red

Blue is bighting, red is scratching

Blue is parting, red is catching

For burden and sin

For life and joy

Falling, thrashing, fighting, slashing,

Oh, the red and blue,

Red is fleeing,

Blue is chasing,

Oh the red and blue

The blue, the blue she was stunned

As the red flipped on its back

The blue, it scratched

The blue it harmed

The red, the red was falling

Flapping wildly as it could

And it's rider, unattached

Fell toward the ground

The ballad stopped there. _NO! _Lillyan yelled in her mind. Why did it stop there? It had to go on! That was not the end, it couldn't be! She glared at the book and thrust it back into its place before grabbing a dragon scroll and running away with it. She collided with Syrai who, very angrily had been storming out of the neighbouring room. Lillyan looked at him. He looked at her. Then they were hugging each other, Lillyan whining, Syrai moaning.

* * *

><p><strong>this is where i need help, see. I don't know whether to make Lillyan's dragon male or female, and since the next chapter is supposed to be called 'The name' for obvious reasons, i kinda need a solution fast...SO i am going to-or already have-put up a poll with the two choices and i would apprecate some VOTES!<strong>


	5. Leaving

**Rather disappointingly, only one person voted on the poll I put up about whether Lillyan's dragon should be male or female. So that person will get her/his choice. Other than that I have realised, most people don't even read my messages, or can't be bothered to respond; WELL THANKS A BUNCH! Anyways, letting bygones be bygones, here is the next chapter;**

LILLYAN

Lillyan stabbed the roasted mushroom with her fork and led it to her mouth. Syrai's parents were staring at her. She knew they did not like her much, and that they only put up with her for Syrai's sake. Therefore, she was never rude, always did her chores and ate as little as she could survive on. Lillyan looked at her plate. She was hungry. Always hungry, never entirely full. She longed for more roots and fungi, roasted potatoes, carrots, parsnips, more fried…Lillyan stopped herself. She was only making it worse. She bowed her head and then, soundlessly, slid from the table and climbed up the narrow ladder that led all the way to the top where her room was.

_Hello? _She whispered in her mind and was knocked over by a shiny green-blue ball of excitement. Lillyan groaned at the little creature sitting on her chest and pinning her to the ground with immense strength. _You're squishing me! _she cried. The little dragon crawled back and purred. Lillyan reached into her pocket and took out a carrot, thrusting it into the dragon's mouth. It spat it out disgusted.

_Look, I know you want meat, but it's all I can get you at the moment! _She tried to reason with it, but all it did was curl up in a ball and growl at her. She chuckled and stroked it's head until it started purring again.

Then she stood up, took the scroll out from beneath her tunic and spread it out on her desk

SYRAI

"Syrai, stay her a second will you?" his mother called just as he was going to slip upstairs. Syrai sighed and retraced his steps. He stared at them a long time, before they finally started talking.

"We think…" His father began "it is…" his mother continued. "It's time for Lillyan to leave," His father finally demanded. Syrai stared at them. "I mean, she has lived here ever since her parents passed away, and now she is twelve. We are old, very old, we cannot look after both of you anymore, we have not the strength or the power,"

Syrai continued staring until his eyes watered. "Your, your serious aren't you?" His father nodded. Syria scowled at him. "Then why don't you send me away?" His father sighed

"Syrai, you're our son…"

"Not anymore I'm not," Syrai hissed, and leapt up the steps.

LILLYAN

Lillyan read down the list of names. They were dragon names, written in the colour their scales had been. _I wonder how anyone could manage your colour. _She thought to the dragon.

_The green candle that never stops flickering, or is it blue? _Her dragon replied. Lillyan smiled at it.

_I must admit, it is an awfully rude question, but I must know, or else I cannot name you, are you male or are you female? _

The dragon laughed, a sound not dissimilar to waves crashing against cliffs.

_Take a guess. _Lillyan listened carefully to the voice. It was high in the standards of a boy, but average if it were a girl.

_Girl? _The dragon laughed. _Boy then! _Lillyan felt herself blush and looked down at her hands, meanwhile the dragon continued laughing.

_I need to find you a name…_

Syrai burst into the room. "We're leaving," he exclaimed, before throwing Lillyan a shoulder bag and jumping down the flight of stairs he had climbed up and running around his room, grabbing everything he valued.

Lillyan followed his lead without a question until he returned, took her bag and slung it over his shoulder, beckoning her to follow. She tickled her dragon under the chin while questioning, _are we leaving for long?_

Syrai paused and looked at her. He sighed, dropped the bag and yelled, kicking a nearby table so that it flew across the room. "Damn it!" he yelled looking at the splintered remains of where he had removed the tabled from the tree. Lillyan shook her head and carried the table back to the stumps, holding it steady while Syrai sung the tree back together. When he was finished he sat back on his heels and let out a long breath of air.

"Yes," he said finally. "We're leaving for good,"

THE DRAGON

The dragon watched the two youngsters heal the tree and then discuss their next moves. The dragon, only just coming to terms with the amazing world that he had been so impatient to see during his time in the egg, seemed just the slightest bit sad. Lillyan could not stop the flow of her childhood memories while she was talking. Occasionally it was a song which the dragon could not understand, at others it was a man talking, a dim outline of a woman, the sound of a storm or a scene at a riverside. More than not Syrai popped up. Syrai and her fishing. Syrai laughing. Syrai tickling baby Lillyan. The dragon felt a tinge of jealousy when he saw those images, and after receiving a shocked glance from Lillyan, he shrieked and decided never to feel the disgusting emotion again.


	6. Rain

LILLYAN

Lillyan shivered in the cold. Syrai sent her a worried glance and she smiled back at him. He always worried about her. It was an annoying and reassuring feeling at the same time, to know that there was someone who would look out for you until it or they died. Lillyan rubbed her hands together and closed her eyes. _Brisingr! _She called in her mind, forcing the fire into a single spark and let it hop from finger to finger until she finally dropped it onto the pile of old leaves Syrai had collected. Despites the rain, the leaves shot into flames and Syrai placed some dead branches across them.

Lillyan held her hands over the fire. She was soaked to the bone, her long dripping hair cold through her wet clothes and her teeth chattering. Syrai frowned.

_Sorry, _he apologised, unable to speak out loud due to the unbelievably loud drumming of the rain on the planks of wood they had balanced over their heads.

_It is hardly your fault, and you know It is considered rude to just utter 'sorry' _Lillyan thought back, unwilling to speak, rain or not.

Syrai shrugged. _I dislike elven tradition,_

_Never say that out loud,_

_I won't!_

They watched the rain for a while in silence. The drops were at least the size of grapes, each like a round arrow, whizzing from the sky.

Lillyan's dragon crawled out of his bag into her lap and puffed smoke into the ground. The dragon was warm and pleasant. Lillyan smiled at him. The dragon listened to the rain with them and then peered up at Lillyan.

_Is that rain? _He asked.

Lillyan nodded.

_I like it; I like the sound of it, _he continued dreamily, then fell into concentrated silence.

**I do realise it is unbelievably, in fact unforgivably short but I am STUCK! Not even in the 'writers block' sense, I cannot think of a proper name for Lillyan's dragon! I've thought of Jade or Ammolite like the green stones, but their too girly, now help me BEFORE I end up calling it mammatocumulus after the natural phenomenon where the clouds go 'bumpy' and look like a million people are stretching white fluffy fingers from the sky. My other idea is to call him Syrai after her friend/adoptive brother/fellow traveller…but, that's my plan B, I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED suggestions! Btw, if I do not get answers for this by the next time I look, which is tomorrow in English time, I will not be able to write for an entire ten days because I am going on holiday to a rather boring place with no internet…: ( please leave me the friendship and dignity of announcing the dragons name. **


	7. I am

**Halleluja! I'm back, back in civilisation! I just want to say one thing before the next chappie. This is CouldBe's annoyingly optimistic side speaking: I WILL manage to finish this story BEFORE the ninth of November, I MUST!**

LILLYAN

Lillyan peered up at the sky. It was black. It was still raining. She was cold. Life was hard.

She closed her eyes and imagined warmth slowly rising through her body, tingling her toes, crawling up her foot, ankle, legs, knees.

Syrai shuffled in his sleep-trance and Lillyan lost her concentration. The warmth disappeared and she was left, once again, in the freezing cold.

_I don't like elven tradition; _Syrai reminded and looked at her.

Lillyan, startled, lifted her arm for self-protection. Syrai laughed and pushed it back to her side.

_Why not? _She sighed.

_Because there is no emotion! Lillyan watch, see . Have you seen the human children play? Have you seen the dwarves? The way their little faces light up in a broad grin, eyes sparkling, blood rushing…don't you ever miss that? Want it? long for it?_

Lillyan looked at the trees across the clearing.

_I don't know what you're feeling now. You don't show it. no one does. What are you feeling, Lillyan?_

_Sadness_

_Why? _Syrai looked alarmed.

Lillyan looked up at the sky and gave a quiet but high pitched moan_. Because I do not have to miss it, Syrai, I have to hide it, as well as I can._ He looked puzzled. _Don't YOU see it? the way they laugh behind my back? _She turned to him. _I'm a quarter human. That makes me different to the other elf children! I don't BELONG with them, because I am not a full ELF! _

The dragon let out a squeak at her misery. Syrai almost did as well.

GUESS WHO…

They hugged each other for warmth, shivering against each other. Eventually the sun rose, but it didn't mean anything. The rain continued to fall as if the clouds had been saving it up for years just for that occasion.

_This is my fault, _Syrai told himself.

Then a dark figure stood in the way of their vision.

Lillyan greeted him silently and Syrai filled it in with words. Once the elf had returned the greeting he laughed a deep, wise old laugh and blinked at the two of them.

"It seems as though you two have been through a tough night…" the furred blue elf man commented. "come with, I will bring you to shelter,"

Without another word the pair stood up and followed him.

They walked through the slowly waking town. Most elves were up already, but only after they had watched the sun rise did they start their daily work or schedule. The trees were old, almost black and terribly creaky, with every tiny wind they let out sorrowful groans.

Eventually they left the town behind and turned into a gate way, sung from two younger trees that had grown into twisting spirals at the top and split in two at the bottom. Beyond that there were several hollow trees with no doors but furniture and carpets within them. As the trio went on the odd rooms became more frequent and larger until they were in a ginormous hall with a long blue carpet rolled out. It stopped at the top of three steps where two thrones sat and around them twelve slightly less glamorous chairs were placed. On each chair a solemn looking elf was sat, but what took up the most of Lillyan and Syrai's attention was the tall man, majestically leaning back against the chair and frankly looking rather bored. The man, as well as being not all that bad looking, had blue leggings and a blue silk tunic that hung until just above his knees. With a silver thread a grid of large diamond shapes had been stitched upon it and where each line crossed there was a silver pearl. It was his cape that was the best though. Hung from shoulder to ankle, the blue velvet wavered gently as they approached. At least on the outside it was blue, on the inside it was the colour of blood, a rich red out of shiny fabric.

Lillyan took in the man's posture, face expression, clothes, throne and attitude and only then realised that Syrai was uttering the greeting. Quickly, she caught up and did the actions and mimed the words with her mouth.

The man-the king returned it and then looked at the furred elf. He raised his eyebrow. "Who is it you bring me this time, Blodgharm?"

The furred elf smiled, bowed and replied "two children in need,"

The king raised an eyebrow and regarded the children with a look of excitement, confusion and interest. "Do you know who I am?" He tested, scratching his forhead.

Lillyan shook her head the same time Syrai nodded his. "The king," he said

_A rider, _Lillyan sent to him, as well as everyone else in the room. The king, who had been watching Syrai, whipped his head towards her.

"A girl who does not speak out loud, but does not hesitate to invade ones thoughts?" he commented. Lillyan didn't answer, didn't wince, in fact it surprised her that she did not care at all. The king smiled "Why do you say so?"

Lillyan looked down at her palm. _The sign, the shining mark, the dragon has placed it upon your hand, I glimpsed it when you scratched you forehead._

The rider-king looked at the surrounding elves, and laughed in amazement. _You are observant, _he told her in an amused voice.

_And you are Eragon Shade slayer, you must be, it is the only possibility._

Eragon frowned. "who are you?"

"Outcasts. My parents do not want us, the others do not want us…My name is Syrai and…" Syrai began but then Lillyan trod on his foot.

_You should know who I am, _Lillyan challenged.

Eragon stood up and for a second she thought she had gone too far. Then however, she noticed the smile on his face as he slowly walked down the stairs and circled her like a beast its prey.

"let's see, the ears too soft, cheeks to red, you are partly human?"

_As you are…_

"the boy said…HIS parents, so yours are presumably…"

_Deceased yes,_

Eragon looked from Syrai to Lillyan. "Can I be honest?"

Lillyan nodded.

"I havn't the slightest clue who you are." With obvious disappointment he retreated to his throne.

_I am Lillyan, daughter of Eyra and Abrayda. I am Lillyan a dragon rider. I am Lillyan, granddaughter of Eragon Bromsson and Arya. I a Lillyan and I am lost. I am Lillyan and I… _she lowered her head, putting an end to her proud moment, _am lost._

**I hope you liked it! I STILL havn't named her dragon! But I had another idea, which AGAIN, I need your help with. Because the dragon seems to have an odd fascination for rain, I thought I'd call him either cloud-something or other or rain-something or other. For example CloudRider or RainDancer, BUT I need a word for cloud and rain in the ancient tounge AND name suggestions like my examples…help?**


	8. Thoughts and feelings

SYRAI

Anger, horror, misery, shock, amazement, awe, pity, happiness, rejection. An elf? Syrai was not an elf. Any being that is able to show that many emotions and more at once is not an elf, not a human, not a dwarf…is a creature that should be put out of it's misery as quickly as possible.

Syrai looked at Eragon. He was alive, Lillyan had a family again- sort of- and he could tell her about being a rider, that was happiness out of the way. Lillyan was royal, that'd be amazement and awe. Pity was that she had never thought of it earlier. Anger, horror, misery, shock and rejection were all from the cause of her not ever telling him that something was wrong.

Why not? He could have helped! He could have…could have…could have…

Syrai looked back at Lillyan. She was more an elf than him. Her face was expressionless. A marble statue. Then he noticed her eyes. They displayed almost as many emotions as he had with his entire body, and they were all directed at him. Apology, fear, pain, longing…

Syrai hung his head. _Typical. _He always gave in to her. Oh, he could beat the boys at sword fighting, archery…with not the slightest hint of mercy. He could fight a war alone against a hundred and he would win…unless she was on the other side.

_And what COULD I actually do if she told me something was wrong? I could talk…but I always talk and it never helps._

Eragon watched the odd exchange of emotions silently then, when he thought it had ended, he spoke.

"Why, what is it that troubles you?"

_A lot._

Eragon nodded. "Blodgharm will show you to your rooms, you can stay with us as long as it pleases you."

Syrai felt stiff as he followed the blue elf down a corridor next to Lillyan.

_I didn't know what to do… _Lillyan told him in a pained voice before over taking him and standing next to the elderly elf.

She thought he was angry…

ERAGON

_Eek!_ Was there and better word for it? He paced up and down the room. Up and down. Up and down.

_I'm a…I'm a…wait! I'm a grandfather. AGH!_

He came to a sudden halt, swivelled around and started going the other way again.

_I feel old._

He pulled out a tiny mirror, usually used for conversation, but this time Eragon looked at the reflection in minute detail. No wrinkles…no grey hair…

He put it back in his pocket and continued pacing.

_I have a granddaughter! _He thought, surprising himself at how obvious it was. It only just sank in and he was happy. Oh so happy. Almost as happy as when Arya had agreed to marry him- in human tradition.

Arya stepped through the door at that moment, dressed entirely in green. She smiled at him and then crossed the room to kiss him. –romantics aside she studied him and then exclaimed. "You look terrible!"

"thank you," Eragon answered, smiling.

Arya sighed. "Terrible as in worried, what's wrong?"

Eragon, for no reason in particular, bent down and whispered it into Arya's ear.

"We have a WHAT?" Arya said in monotone, her face slipping into its usual façade. She collapsed backwards on to the chair for a minute or two. Then a smile spread across her face and she looked at Eragon with twinkling eyes, something Eragon had not seen since the day their son died.

"Abrayda's?"

"Definitely…"

LILLYAN

Lillyan watched the day speed past. At some point, when the sun stood directly above them, so presumably midday, Syrai entered her room and sat on the large four poster bed.

"Do you like your room?" he asked casually.

_It's too big. Big and empty._

The dragon was crawling on her lap. He had grown admirably and was as big as a good sized dog. It was still nameless.

"Are you angry with me?" he asked then.

_Why would I be angry with you?_

"Numerous reasons,"

_I'm not angry with you. Are you angry with me?_

"of course not."

Lillyan sighed in relief and stood up and hugged Syrai.

_I'm scared._

Syrai furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't understand what she could possibly be scared of.

_I don't know, _she admitted, _something bad is coming._

GENERAL POV

When the sun had set Blodgharm came to pick them up and brought them to the dining hall, a large high-ceilinged hall with one large table stretching from one side to the other. They sat on the places nearest to the king, beside them were the twelve elves, behind them were several dwarves and a fair amount of humans.

The dinner was amazing with food that looked like statues, and tasted as though a god had made them-not that there was actually a god or any GODS but it was a comparison Lillyan could not help but make.

The king nor the queen spoke throughout the entire meal. When the room began to empty however, they could not stop themselves asking questions. What had happened to her mother? How was it at school? How long had they been out in the rain? Lillyan let Syrai answer for her. Then came the compliments; how pretty she was, how beautiful her long hair was, how wise she seemed. Lillyan stayed silent.

Then after an awkward pause, Eragon finally got to the point. "How long have you been a rider?"

Whether or not it was rude, Lillyan did not know or care, she wasn't even sure if it had ever happened before. So she pulled her dragon out of the bag that it had spent an uncomfortable hour in and placed it on the table where it started eating the rest of Lillyan's dinner, vegetables or not it was starving.

"hmm," Eragon let out. "his scales are…well they're different."

_Where is your dragon?_

Eragon continued as if she had not asked. "Where did you find…Aghk!"

Eragon clutched his head. Lillyan wasn't sure what she had done. She had just tried to find out where Saphira was. Eragon's thoughts were suddenly being projected on the wall.

'AGH! THIS REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY HURTS'

Then the writing flickered and there were pictures, no not pictures, a memory. _There were sand dunes, hundreds of them. The wind –and sand for that matter-was whipping against them as if its life depended on it. Then a boy stood up in the middle. He was young but looked similar to Eragon, of course it did, it WAS Eragon. He blinked at the empty landscape."…to the gods…" he muttered. It was obvious he was lost. The sand was making a crust around him; he kept having to rub it out of his eyes. "Murtagh? WHAT THE BLOODY HECK HAVE YOU DONE NOW?" he screamed angrily. No one answered. He ran up the nearest sand dune desperately. "Hello? Hello? Is anybody there?" He stopped at the top and gave a low and long moan. Beyond the sand dune there was nothing but desert. No people, no houses, no plants. "ARYA? SAPHIRA? SAPHIRA! ANYONE? SAAPHIIIIIIIRAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

The memory ended and the real Eragon angrily stood up and glared at Lillyan. She was still staring at the wall, but was well aware of Eragon's anger.

"How did you do that? What WAS that?" He was silently sobbing while he spoke.

Lillyan stood up slowly, stepped onto the bench, the table, the other bench and crossed the rest of the room until she was at the wall. She slid her finger along it and then turned back to Eragon.

_But you found her again didn't you?_ She questioned worriedly. Eragon didn't answer. _Didn't you?_

Eragon fell back on his chair and but his head in his hands. "I found Murtagh and thorn. I wanted to kill them. They were injured…Dying even. Not by me though. By his MASTER. So I made him become a teacher, made him swear he would not run, hide, kill or injure. He even helped me look for her, but she WASN'T there. HE took her. GALBATORIX took her. And I haven't seen her since."

_She's looking for you, _Lillyan informed him.

"How do you know?"

_I don't know, but it must be true._

**Anyone who DIDN'T get why 'it must be true' elves=ancient language=only truth.**

**Anyway, me still needs cloud/rain suggestions! Othr whilst I will just name him next chapter with no thought or feeling (a little thought and feeling, but possibly not something that sounds particularly good)**


	9. Names and Dangers

DRAGON

They were talking about him. How he'd be growing , what he needed to eat, when Eragon started riding Saphira, when Lillyan should start riding him. He yawned. _That is for ME to decide, _he told Lillyan grumpily. She patted his head. He growled. Then he snorted and a tiny wisp of smoke rose from within his nostrils. _Right this is nonsense! Give me a name Lillyan. _Lillyan blinked at him in surprise.

_PLEASE NAME ME! _He pleaded to the whole room.

"You haven't named him?"

Lillyan shook her head sadly.

"Well, that must be changed IMMEDIATELY!" Eragon cried in mock-outrage.

The dragon snorted in agreement.

He felt that Lillyan was a little annoyed with the him for embarrassing her. She hadn't had time to name him,

_that was not so bad was it_? _Christenings could wait, it was a little unorthodox, admittedly, but tradition often came due to a lack of imagination or knowledge AND she was hardly in a good position was she? Her only carers had abandoned her, she had upset the king and she still had the feeling in the bottom of her stomach as though a knife was about to drop from the sky and kill somebody close to her._

The dragon crawled towards her and nudged her hand with his snout.

_I'm sorry, _he told her, _but the conversation you just had consisted almost entirely out of 'the dragon'_

_Gwendiryn? _Eragon suggested, oblivious to the silent exchange. He had obviously been thinking hard about what to call the dragon.

The dragon but his head to the side, _as much as I appreciate being named after royalty, Lillyan, _The dragon told her, _I am not a queen, and I will never be._

Lillyan frowned, _hmm…king yes, well, that…hmm. How about….Oro Vindr?_

The dragon contemplated 'arrow wind' for a long concentrated moment before shaking his head. He even considered changing it to 'wind arrow' VindrOro before deciding he wanted something more…unique.

_Edoc'sil Sk__ölir? _Eragon suggested- unconquerable shield.

_Does that even make sense? _The dragon asked. Eragon shrugged.

"If you want to be fastidious…"

The dragon leapt at him and withdrew in the same fluent movement.

Eragon looked down at his finger "Ow…fastidious and an over-reactor…"

"Datia Orum?" Syrai suggested suddenly "Datia llian, Datia, Deloi Orum…Deloi?" He returned to silence when he realised everyone was staring at him.

_Deloi Orum, _the dragon announced even more suddenly, _My name is 'Earth Serpent' Deloi Orum_

LILLYAN

The next day Lillyan travelled to the outskirts of the town with Eragon and Syrai and together they hunted down rabbits and mice for Deloi-Orum to eat.

With Deloi-Orum named, he seemed to speak with Lillyan a lot more. Whenever Eragon brushed against his mind to ask him something or tell him something, Deloi-Orum brushed him aside and continued conversing with her.

_You feel proud, honoured and happy, Lillyan, I don't think I understand why…? _

Lillyan looked at her feet. _It's foolish really…but I feel as though…_

_Your mine…_he finished. He looked up at her. She nodded, taking a step back…What would he do? Flapping his little wings while he jumped, which made him look like a bizarre rabbit-humming bird mixture, he hopped over to her side and sat down beside her, still gazing up at her.

_Your names too long, _Lillyan remarked.

_Then give me a better one, _Deloi-Orum replied.

_No, no. A names a name, but I could shorten it a little…_

_How?_

Lillyan closed her eyes. She imagined a large hexagon shaped room, each tall wall lined with a giant row of shelves, and furnished with thick heavy books. A miniature version of herself crossed the room in her mind and stepped onto a ladder that went all the way to the ceiling. There she pulled out a much smaller book, pulled a pen out of her pocket and opened it, sitting down on the step of the ladder as she did so.

Other than the word, or name 'Deloi-Orum' the pages of the book were entirely blank and Lillyan began to fill them with hundreds of possible nicknames.

All that happened in less than a few seconds in reality, but after what seemed ages in Lillyan's knowledge and memory library, she returned with the perfect nick name.

_I have three good ones, _she declared. Deloi-Orum shook himself as he rid himself of the mesmerizing sight of the library.

_Loiru, Dorum and Eloi as in 'de__LOI__-o__RU__m', '__D__eloi-__ORUM__' and 'd__ELOI__-orum'_

Noticing how far ahead the other two elves were, rider and dragon hurried to catch up.

_Sounds good! _

_All three?_

_Aye!_

"We've found one!" Syrai called cupping something in his hand. It was a fat mouse with golden brown fur and puffed out cheeks.

Lillyan felt its mind pressing against hers. It was scared. Something had frightened it and it had not been Eragon or Syrai.

_Something is wrong! _Lillyan shrieked, but by then they had all heard the cracking of twigs underneath two feet. Feet that were getting louder-nearer.

Lillyan lifted Dorum in her arms and threw the struggling dragon youngling in the trees.

"Shade!" Syrai whispered, sniffing the air.

Eragon threw his cape aside and pulled out an elegant blue sword which he held out before him. He muttered something and a basic sword appeared in Syrai' hand.

Lillyan coughed. Eragon didn't react. Lillyan became angry and concentrated on letting a sword materialize for herself, which after a lot of effort, became a success as the shining metal shone in the sun.

Eragon turned to her. "You're not meant to fight!" he hissed.

Then the Shade launched itself out of the undergrowth, crimson eyes gleaming like burning coals, knocking Syrai over and landing on top of him. Lillyan slashed at him with her sword, with surprising skill, considering she was having difficulty even keeping the heavy sword up. However the sword just went straight through, throwing Lillyan off balance. She toppled onto Syrai, landing with her cheek on the edge of his sword. Only then did she realise the shade had disappeared.

"Aim for the heart!" Eragon commanded. The two children struggled to their feet. All three stood back to back with each other searching the stretch of land in front of them. After a couple of minutes Eragon's jaw unclamped itself and Syrai's shoulders relaxed

"He's gone," he sighed. Both men let their swords hang limply by their sides. Lillyan stayed put. In the distance next to a tree was a shadow and on that shadow were two red gleaming eyes. When Lillyan blinked they were gone.

"What now?" Syrai murmured.

Dorum tumbled out of a bush and was welcomed back by three ready swords pointing at his upturned belly. It rumbled in defence.

"Where is the mouse?" Eragon looked at Syrai. He searched the ground and eventually spotted it crouching behind a stone panting. Syrai lifted it up once more.

"and…?"

Loiru-Dorum licked his lips and scrambled up the nearest tree.

"Well…we have to kill it," Eragon replied.

The three elves looked at the mouse miserably. Then the mouse was gone and with a snap Deloi-Orum fell out of the tree with the creature in his mouth.

The group turned their heads in disgust.

_What? _Eloi complained, munching on the mouse's insides, _who are you to deny me my natural instincts?_

**And, that be it! well…for this chapter at least, what'd you think? Good, bad? Anyways, no one be insulted. I liked all the names and couldn't decide so I did a remix of them and mentioned some of the others…the dragon denying it, for whatever reason is NOT to be taken as a personal insult!**


	10. Thunder

SYRAI

Syrai sat in front of the desk in his room. A lantern was throwing light on a half-full sheet of paper over which Syrai's pen was poised. He reread the last verse he had written, changed a word, swapped the sentences around and then crossed all four lines out. Why couldn't he concentrate? That was a silly question; he knew exactly why he was unfocused.

_Are mother and father missing me? what are they doing now? Do they want me back? _

Lightning crashed outside, turning the room white.

_They should have let Lillyan stay! They should have! _

Thunder rumbled.

_Lillyan is…wait, LILLYAN! _

He finally seemed to take in the storm outside and raced out of his room and down the corridor.

When he burst through Lillyan's door she was already curled in a ball beneath her desk. Her head was tightly pressed against her noise and she was rocking back and forth whimpering.

"Syrai, Syrai…Syrai…Syrai? Syrai…Syrai" she was muttering. Back and forth.

_Make it go away! _"Syrai…Syrai? Syrai! Syrai? Syrai? Syrai…"

LILLYAN

Syrai. She wanted Syrai to come. Syrai made the thunderstorms go away. He always let them disappear.

The door slammed open. He was there. Syrai. Syrai was there. Was Syrai there? Syrai was there. She could feel him, putting his hands over her ears. He was singing loudly. She didn't know what he was singing, but it was soothing, the lightning was gone, the thunder was gone.

_Can't they change it? _She whispered, _why don't they change the weather?_

She felt Syrai smile, _it's hard to change the weather, it takes a lot of energy…and it'd be pointless._

He did not stop singing. Then he paused. _I wrote that, _he told her.

_It's beautiful._

He leant against her shoulder. _Will you sing me something? You're the talented singer._

Lillyan flicked her finger at him in annoyance.

Thunder grumbled. She put her head against her knees again. Syrai sung. He sung and he sung, haunting melodies, ancient love songs, stories, poems…

When the storm finally ended it was evening and both of them had fallen into their trance-like states.

BLODGHARM

Blodgharm stepped into the room. The young rider and her acquaintance had not appeared at dinner, so he had been ordered to bring them food. Ordered. The elf scowled at himself in the mirror, slowly lifted his eyebrows until they were normal and then twisted his lips so that they were in a sort of half-smile. Then he continued into the room and found Lillyan with her head in Syrai's lap and Syrai with his head on Lillyan's shoulder.

Blodgharm coughed and the both sat up, blinking at the sudden change of light.

Blodgharm greeted them, they greeted him back "I have brought your dinner,"

He set the tray down in front of them, bade them farewell and turned to leave.

_Could you wait? _The girl spoke to him suddenly.

Blodgharm turned to her and waited, making it clear that he did not quite understand what she expected.

_Would you mind answering some questions?_

The boy lifted the tray and put it on the table, setting out both his and Lillyan's plates and glasses and pushing both chairs towards the table in such a manner that they could speak to the elf in between eating their meal. The old elf nodded slowly and sat cross-legged on the floor.

_Why do you work for Eragon?_

"he is the king…" Blodgharm answered unwillingly. Questions about him? That had not been what he expected-or wanted.

Lillyan sat down on the chair and shook her head.

Both children ate in silence. Blodgharm did not speak, but made no attempts to leave either. When they were finished, they both turned to him and waited.

"It's a long story," he warned no reaction. "Do you know what happened on the day Saphira was taken?"

"I do," Syrai paused and looked from Lillyan to Blodgharm, "Nasuada was about to attack Belatona when he appeared in the distance, a faraway blur of red. He was fast, unnaturally fast, and strong, he was powerful. Eragon awaited him a little while away from the camp with his twelve guards and Arya, if I'm not mistaken; you were one of them… 'Blodgharm' yes I'm sure of it" Blodgharm nodded "Then there was a battle, dragon against dragon and rider against rider…that's all I know,"

Blodgharm nodded once more. "Then he disappeared. With a blink of an eye Eragon vanished and nobody had a clue what had happened, or what spell could have caused it. Saphira went livid, she thought he was dead and Murtagh was closest. She attacked him, ripping at his arms and legs. She almost made him limbless. Then both dragons vanished as well and Murtagh fell to the ground. No one noticed who else was missing until later…"

"You?" Syrai cried excitedly.

Blodgharm looked at his hands and nodded.

"What happened to you?" Syrai wondered

_How did you escape? _

Blodgharm looked at the ceiling and without saying anything, pulled off his tunic.

His skin was covered in red marks, scars, black shapes where his skin had been burned.

"It happened almost a hundred years ago, but they still won't go,"

Lillyan gingerly traced a long red line that went all the way around his stomach. Blodgharm winced at several places.

Lillyan's hand withdrew.

"That's not the worst of it," Blodgharm told her, "but the…err…location of the injuries are in somewhat…"

Syrai looked away. And Lillyan put her hand out so that the elf would stop talking.

"Eragon rescued me. I can't remember how. I was lying on a bed dying and then I was thrown over someone shoulder, that's all I remember. They don't trust me though. They think Galbatorix might have found my true name and made me swear I would kill Eragon or something of the likes. I earn my keep here by helping."

_But surely after a hundred years…_

Blodgharm looked at the ground, "I know," he said "I know." He stood up "now I must go, sleep well. Oh, and Eragon has asked for you to join him in the gardens in the morning, I shall escort you there. He wants you to train better than he had the chance to."

LILLYAN

Lillyan put her book aside and watched Eloi scramble up the bedpost to sit by her.

_You are sad. _He flapped his wing for balance and ended up hanging upside down by his tail which was caught in Lillyan's blanket. She pulled him onto the bed and stroked him.

_I'm finding myself disliking my own grandfather._

Eloi thoughtfully relived the memory.

_He may have had his reasons, _he replied stiffly.

Lillyan shook her head and hugged the little dragon despites his struggling.


	11. Training

SYRAI

Anger, horror, misery, shock, amazement, awe, pity, happiness, rejection. An elf? Syrai was not an elf. Any being that is able to show that many emotions and more at once is not an elf, not a human, not a dwarf…is a creature that should be put out of it's misery as quickly as possible.

Syrai looked at Eragon. He was alive, Lillyan had a family again- sort of- and he could tell her about being a rider, that was happiness out of the way. Lillyan was royal, that'd be amazement and awe. Pity was that she had never thought of it earlier. Anger, horror, misery, shock and rejection were all from the cause of her not ever telling him that something was wrong.

Why not? He could have helped! He could have…could have…could have…

Syrai looked back at Lillyan. She was more an elf than him. Her face was expressionless. A marble statue. Then he noticed her eyes. They displayed almost as many emotions as he had with his entire body, and they were all directed at him. Apology, fear, pain, longing…

Syrai hung his head. _Typical. _He always gave in to her. Oh, he could beat the boys at sword fighting, archery…with not the slightest hint of mercy. He could fight a war alone against a hundred and he would win…unless she was on the other side.

_And what COULD I actually do if she told me something was wrong? I could talk…but I always talk and it never helps._

Eragon watched the odd exchange of emotions silently then, when he thought it had ended, he spoke.

"Why, what is it that troubles you?"

_A lot._

Eragon nodded. "Blodgharm will show you to your rooms, you can stay with us as long as it pleases you."

Syrai felt stiff as he followed the blue elf down a corridor next to Lillyan.

_I didn't know what to do… _Lillyan told him in a pained voice before over taking him and standing next to the elderly elf.

She thought he was angry…

ERAGON

_Eek!_ Was there and better word for it? He paced up and down the room. Up and down. Up and down.

_I'm a…I'm a…wait! I'm a grandfather. AGH!_

He came to a sudden halt, swivelled around and started going the other way again.

_I feel old._

He pulled out a tiny mirror, usually used for conversation, but this time Eragon looked at the reflection in minute detail. No wrinkles…no grey hair…

He put it back in his pocket and continued pacing.

_I have a granddaughter! _He thought, surprising himself at how obvious it was. It only just sank in and he was happy. Oh so happy. Almost as happy as when Arya had agreed to marry him- in human tradition.

Arya stepped through the door at that moment, dressed entirely in green. She smiled at him and then crossed the room to kiss him. –romantics aside she studied him and then exclaimed. "You look terrible!"

"thank you," Eragon answered, smiling.

Arya sighed. "Terrible as in worried, what's wrong?"

Eragon, for no reason in particular, bent down and whispered it into Arya's ear.

"We have a WHAT?" Arya said in monotone, her face slipping into its usual façade. She collapsed backwards on to the chair for a minute or two. Then a smile spread across her face and she looked at Eragon with twinkling eyes, something Eragon had not seen since the day their son died.

"Abrayda's?"

"Definitely…"

LILLYAN

Lillyan watched the day speed past. At some point, when the sun stood directly above them, so presumably midday, Syrai entered her room and sat on the large four poster bed.

"Do you like your room?" he asked casually.

_It's too big. Big and empty._

The dragon was crawling on her lap. He had grown admirably and was as big as a good sized dog. It was still nameless.

"Are you angry with me?" he asked then.

_Why would I be angry with you?_

"Numerous reasons,"

_I'm not angry with you. Are you angry with me?_

"of course not."

Lillyan sighed in relief and stood up and hugged Syrai.

_I'm scared._

Syrai furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't understand what she could possibly be scared of.

_I don't know, _she admitted, _something bad is coming._

GENERAL POV

When the sun had set Blodgharm came to pick them up and brought them to the dining hall, a large high-ceilinged hall with one large table stretching from one side to the other. They sat on the places nearest to the king, beside them were the twelve elves, behind them were several dwarves and a fair amount of humans.

The dinner was amazing with food that looked like statues, and tasted as though a god had made them-not that there was actually a god or any GODS but it was a comparison Lillyan could not help but make.

The king nor the queen spoke throughout the entire meal. When the room began to empty however, they could not stop themselves asking questions. What had happened to her mother? How was it at school? How long had they been out in the rain? Lillyan let Syrai answer for her. Then came the compliments; how pretty she was, how beautiful her long hair was, how wise she seemed. Lillyan stayed silent.

Then after an awkward pause, Eragon finally got to the point. "How long have you been a rider?"

Whether or not it was rude, Lillyan did not know or care, she wasn't even sure if it had ever happened before. So she pulled her dragon out of the bag that it had spent an uncomfortable hour in and placed it on the table where it started eating the rest of Lillyan's dinner, vegetables or not it was starving.

"hmm," Eragon let out. "his scales are…well they're different."

_Where is your dragon?_

Eragon continued as if she had not asked. "Where did you find…Aghk!"

Eragon clutched his head. Lillyan wasn't sure what she had done. She had just tried to find out where Saphira was. Eragon's thoughts were suddenly being projected on the wall.

'AGH! THIS REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY HURTS'

Then the writing flickered and there were pictures, no not pictures, a memory. _There were sand dunes, hundreds of them. The wind –and sand for that matter-was whipping against them as if its life depended on it. Then a boy stood up in the middle. He was young but looked similar to Eragon, of course it did, it WAS Eragon. He blinked at the empty landscape."…to the gods…" he muttered. It was obvious he was lost. The sand was making a crust around him; he kept having to rub it out of his eyes. "Murtagh? WHAT THE BLOODY HECK HAVE YOU DONE NOW?" he screamed angrily. No one answered. He ran up the nearest sand dune desperately. "Hello? Hello? Is anybody there?" He stopped at the top and gave a low and long moan. Beyond the sand dune there was nothing but desert. No people, no houses, no plants. "ARYA? SAPHIRA? SAPHIRA! ANYONE? SAAPHIIIIIIIRAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

The memory ended and the real Eragon angrily stood up and glared at Lillyan. She was still staring at the wall, but was well aware of Eragon's anger.

"How did you do that? What WAS that?" He was silently sobbing while he spoke.

Lillyan stood up slowly, stepped onto the bench, the table, the other bench and crossed the rest of the room until she was at the wall. She slid her finger along it and then turned back to Eragon.

_But you found her again didn't you?_ She questioned worriedly. Eragon didn't answer. _Didn't you?_

Eragon fell back on his chair and but his head in his hands. "I found Murtagh and thorn. I wanted to kill them. They were injured…Dying even. Not by me though. By his MASTER. So I made him become a teacher, made him swear he would not run, hide, kill or injure. He even helped me look for her, but she WASN'T there. HE took her. GALBATORIX took her. And I haven't seen her since."

_She's looking for you, _Lillyan informed him.

"How do you know?"

_I don't know, but it must be true._

**Anyone who DIDN'T get why 'it must be true' elves=ancient language=only truth.**

**Anyway, me still needs cloud/rain suggestions! Othr whilst I will just name him next chapter with no thought or feeling (a little thought and feeling, but possibly not something that sounds particularly good)**


	12. Aproaching storm

SYRAI

Farrón. Farrón? Farrón! Syrai glared at the large dark-haired boy with the arrogant attitude opposite him. He was holding a stick, a large stick, in the shape of a sword. Syrai realised he was holding an identical sword. He looked around a little lost. Why had Farrón asked him to fight, why not an older elf, they were meant to practice swordsmanship, not slaughter those younger than oneself – for Farrón was three months older than him.

Farrón bowed, Syrai bowed, and the battle began. Syrai stepped back. Farrón stepped back. Syrai stepped sideways. Farrón stepped sideways…

Syrai watched him thoughtfully. He was mirroring every movement he made. Syrai leapt forwards and attacked and just as Farron broke his reflection-like pattern to defend himself, he tossed his sword to his left hand and slashed at Farrón's side. Farrón yelped and clasping his side, stepped back and steadied himself. He muttered the healing words and then faced Syrai once more. He came towards Syrai.

At first he thought the world had stopped, but then Syrai wiped his forehead with his hand and all he could see was red. Blood.

LILLYAN

The water gently splashed against her ankles, she could see fish floating around her feet –was one of them Adurni õ karráy? She searched for him- and the water plants, blue-green reeds that stuck out the water here and there and blossomed in beautiful little heart-shaped white flowers with pink to red edges and freckles near the middle.

_Oh beautiful girl, I am finding my gift very precious and useful, _a voice bubbled and one of the fish parted with its group, _but life with my family is dull and they do not appreciate my knowledge of speech._

_Your definitely getting the hang of it Adurni õ karráy, but if it makes you unhappy should I take it away?_

_Oh no Elf girl! No! I could never go back to a life like theirs! Of eating and sleeping and reproducing, of a simple life with simple communication, no you should never take it away from me if you wish for me to stay a happy fish. I try to teach my family, see, but they do not listen, they wish to stubbornly stick to their old ways. That makes me the only one, it makes me unique, that way I can stay afloat in my lonely world of articulation. _

Lillyan patted the fish with her two, like she had the last time.

_However, elf girl, I must ask, what is 'tree'? and 'wind'? I do not know those terms. Also, could you explain to me what 'poem' and 'song' is?_

Lillyan willingly gave him the information and happily received his gratitude. Then his family slowly began to swim deeper into the pond and the gold fish excused himself and hurried after them.

It was only then that Lillyan grew aware of the tall figure standing behind her. She recognised him faintly, a tutor perhaps? Yes that was it. He smiled at her faintly and greeted her in silence, Lillyan returned it, also silent.

"The rider who cannot speak they say," The man laughed "but that isn't true is it? it should be 'the rider who DOES not speak."

Lillyan viewed the man from head to toe and decided that she could not tell anything from his appearance apart from that he was human. She patted the ground next to her but made sure he was further than arm distance away.

"Why do you not speak?" he wanted to know, taking his seat on the damp moss covered stone.

_I do,_ she corrected him, looking at the sky worriedly, the clouds were getting darker, _just not out loud._

The man rephrased his question "Why do you not TALK?"

Droplets started to drizzle from the sky. Where was Syrai?

_Good reasons, and bad, but mostly good reasons._

"Am I ever going to get a more specific answer?" the tutor continued to interview her though he too was watching the skies.

"Thunders on the way…" he commented, but Lillyan had already stood up and she was running, running fast away from the storm, the thunder, the lightning. It was chasing her, ever chasing her, teasing her with a giant grin. It was calling her names and pulling her hair and chanting at her, always chanting. The thunder was the anger, the rain the hurt and the lightning, oh the lightning, were her mother and father's death. And the storm was always chanting, ever calling ever shouting

"Blue, blue the water, blue,

Blue like the sea,

Blue like the sky,

Sapphire blue,

Red, red the fire, red,

Red like the embers,

Red like the blood,

Crimson red…"

And then she hated the song, every storm it haunted her and she despised it with all her heart until the clouds passed and the rain stopped and the world could begin again.

**Sorry that progress has been slow but there was Halloween and school starting and my blooming internet breaking down. So I apologise for the delay, therefore I now give you two chapters at once! I hope you like them and please review!**


	13. Passed storm

LILLYAN

Dum dadum dadadum dum dum. Dum dadum dadaum dum dum.

A drum of course. Over and over again. The same rhythm, like an alien heartbeat, never-ending, ever loud, ever clear.

Dum dadum dadadum dum dum. Dum dadum dadaum dum dum.

Beyond her was nothing. Strictly speaking there was something, but it wasn't much. It was just sand. Lots of it. mountains of it. A glass of it. An hour glass.

Dum dadum dadadum dum dum. Dum dadum dadaum dum dum.

Lillyan wanted to knock on the glass and scream. How did she get here?

She looked up. It was a very large hourglass. The sand on the top was flowing through the hole quickly but there was a still lot left. She wanted to go to the glass but couldn't. Her legs were already buried.

On the outside of the glass there was a green figure, contorted and stretched by the bulge of the glass. Dorum watched her sadly.

_What are you doing Lillyan? Can't you see that the time is running out? If you do not do something quickly you will be buried beneath the sand forever. You will die and your body will rot away until eventually you too will be part of the sand, a second longer for the next person to think. You will be alone in the anonymous pile of bones that envelope your feet._

It was white sand.

SYRAI

Syrai shook her awake. Awake? She'd never been asleep, but he hadn't been there to protect her from the storm. So she had crawled within herself like a snail in a shell. She had pulled all her conscious thought into her inner cave. Emptied her library and put it to safety in the broom cupboard which she locked behind her in the depths of her beating little heart.

"Syrai," she muttered and blinked at him _time is running out,_

Syrai's eyes grew wide. How did she know? How could she know? How much did she know?

_There's a storm coming_, she said, her glazed eyes fixed on the distant point of nowhere_. A big storm_, she whispered _I saw it in the hourglass_. _Dorum told me_, The dragon squeaked worriedly.

_No not Dorum. Something told me_,

Syrai looked at his hands where three little scars were burned into the flesh. Should he tell her what had happened? No, she'd be in danger. But…

"It's probably nothing," There, the words were spoken, not convincingly, definitely not truthfully, but there was nothing else to say.

_What happened Syrai?_ She asked, her eyes still scarily blank _why didn't you come?_

"I was unconscious," he answered in a low voice, _most of the time_ he added in his shielded mind grimly.

He shivered at the memory of the truth. Farrón sitting, legs apart on the seat next to none other than…well it was perfectly obvious. Their glaring eyes the way the spoke as though they were smirking even though they won't. "So," they'd said once they had told him the options "several years of non-stop torture, or you join us," What had he chosen? The second option of course. For Lillyan he'd told himself. So she didn't have to be alone. So he'd been late, too late and now he wasn't sure anymore, Lillyan? Then why didn't he tell her?

He didn't and the night went on.

ARYA

Snap. It wasn't right. Eragon was always worrying. His smile plastered to his face, a perfect smile beneath pained eyes that had seen too much sorrow and death. He had faced Murtagh and won, he had faced Galbatorix and lost and been found on the verge of death, hanging from a tree with barely a mouth, no teeth and the spiky branch of the tree stabbed through the skin at the back of his neck so he was hung up like a gory jacket on a hook. Murtagh had been badly hurt when they he had won, or more specifically, saved him. Blodgharm had been bad, but Eragon was worst. No poison had touched him, no red hot pokers, no chains had been around his neck, no, but he had suffered mentally and spiritually. Oh, the town graduated his success with Murtagh, his power, his talent, but there had always been the dark shadow over their faces, a hint of disapproval, disappointment and disgust. How dare the man capture his enemy and leave them to suffer the consequences of Galbatorix iron fist. Of nightly raids, attacks, kidnappings, of daily wars that stretched for years, but no the precious rider retired to his home and wife, proclaimed himself king and stretched out his royal legs on his royal chair and do nothing but watch the world slowly crumble.

It wasn't true. He did a many thing for country, though he did not boastfully advertise his deeds as many a king would or did. He fought and commanded, found food when there was none, but he had failed his lives goal and it had scarred him worse than the removal of his teeth and lips. The scratches, the gashes the bruises and beatings, the magic shackles that held his power to the ground. Now and then Eragon would laugh out loud manically, sadly, angrily and he would say,

"I had Oromis as my teacher, life had been unfair to him, I'd thought, but I always thought he took it better than the people said. Now I am in his position and I know it is all a façade, an attempt to be normal, to grow old and die. BUT IT NEVER HAPPENS DOES IT? life just goes on in constant torment. Oh I can fight, I can fight and I can still use magic, but to what extent? I can make things appear, get water from earth, protect myself from the average weapon. Without Saphira I am nothing! Less than Oromis, if I was ever more."

Arya stroked his drumming fingers. He was waiting for something to happen. Something that could take his concentration off the constant depression and feeling of failure.

Lillyan burst through the door of the thrown chamber just at that moment, Syrai close at heel. Her eyes were glazed, her arms outstretched as though she could not see. Syrai was pleading to her and Dorum, now as large as a sheep was crawling behind them and they looked like a terribly short parade.

"Lillyan, it's not true, it was a dream! A fantasy! Don't worry, it was nothing!" Syrai was whining. Lillyan continued to mumble whatever oddity it was that was making Syrai so hysteric.

When she stood opposite them she lowered her arm and stared at them without seeing. It was only then that Arya realised she was not mumbling but rather humming. Arya listened to the tune. It was the song of red and blue and it was not one that she liked to hear.

_The storm is coming; it's a large storm, a big storm, a wild storm. The black will climb it's highest peak. Over the water, over the fire, perhaps even over the forest. The storm is coming; it's a large storm, a big storm, a wild storm…_

She heard in her mind. It was coming from Lillyan.

"Fetch Angela," she murmured to Blodgharm and nodded at him appreciatively before the blue elf hurried away, a look of fear visible in his shocking eyes.


	14. Angi!

GENERAL

Syrai gaped at the crooked old woman marching down the corridor straight towards him with agreeable stealth and ability. The human woman – Syrai was finding himself suddenly surrounded by them; Eragon, Lillyan, Angela, Murtagh… - was unbelievably old, her skin white and wrinkled, but not as wrinkled so that one may say 'she looked a thousand years old' no. She looked about 69, maybe 72, but all the beings in the room new that that was some sort of magical illusion (or not, who knew what Angela got up to?) that kept her young, or young looking, the energy might have been some deep-set, never dying source within her small sturdy figure.

"Does she ever die?" Eragon commented, a smile on his face, even though it had obviously been a serious question. Did the woman bring back old memories?

"I will die when no one needs me anymore," Angela replied promptly and letting a slightly amused, slightly dangerous look shoot in Eragon's direction.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll find jobs for you here and there, for all eternity if it pleases you, but we have more important matters than about who does when," Arya signalled towards Lillyan. She had stopped humming and was watching Angela with her glazed, far-away eyes.

Angela stood in front of Lillyan and looked at her. Lillyan repeated her message to Angela and Angela alone. Angela listened intently while studying the girl, circling her as though she were planning on purchasing her. She lifted Lillyan's arms, her hair, bent down to have a closer look at her feet and toes. Then she sprang back up and Lillyan reached the end of her speech.

"It sounds like a prophecy to me," she thought out loud. "_The storm is coming, _what sort of a storm…Lill…Lillyan?"

There was a pause. "Yes, yes it's a big storm, a wild storm, but what kind of a storm?"

At which point Lillyan collapsed on the floor, her eyes blinking and normal, bright green.

"Lillyan, now your back to normal again, I'd like to ask you something,"

Lillyan gazed at the woman drowsily, but made no protest when she was tugged down the corridor.

A door slammed and Arya, Eragon, the twelve elves, Blodgharm and Syrai were left, confused, excited and worried, not knowing what to say to one another.

LILLYAN

"A RIDER!" Angela shrieked in excitement, joy and surprise, "A RIDER WHO DOES NOT SPEAK! The best kind, that way no nonsense can come out of your pretty little mouth!"

Lillyan smiled meekly and then turned her face away, she wanted Dorum!

Angela's happy smile faded "How come no one told me?" she grumped, crossing her arms infront of her chest and looking thoughtful.

_Perhaps they wanted to surprise you?_

"No, that's not it, something else."

Dorum…

"Well ,anyway, what's your dragon's name then?

Dorum…

_Doru…I mean Deloi-Orum, earth serpent, Dorum for short…or Eloi._

Angela looked at her "Earth serpent? EARTH? Why earth? Why not…Master, Dragon king? Crook shredder!"

Lillyan chuckled, a noise deep in her body which she did not even have to open her mouth for. Angela joined her odd laughing and once they had finished she let out a noisy breath.

"Aye, I admit…but if you ever get a sword please consult me for names, Eragon named his sword, brisingr, BRISINGR!" she shook her head in disgust, "So dull!"

Lillyan shook her head.

_I'm not so good at sword fighting, I prefer the bow and arrow_

Angela nodded as if in agreement and then pulled out a little string of bottles from within her pinafore.

She went through the two dozen or so glass jars, bottles and boxes until she came to two, the largest and tiniest, bottles where she paused before performing a very complicated procedure in which she removed the two bottles which were in the middle of the row of holders, without taking any of the other bottles off the string in less than a minute.

"This," she begun to explain, pointing at the larger of the two, "is a very powerful poison, if your facing someone powerful, try to put it on the tip of your arrow, hit him, anywhere and it will start working them minute it touches his skin, coming out in painful pus-filled purple blotches, then partial blindness, dizziness and eventually complete paralysation. As for the other…well, something tells me you'll know what to do when the time comes," She handed the bottles to Lillyan. Lillyan thanked her and stood up to leave.

_Angela, _she remembered the question that had been itching her all along, even though all she really wanted at that minute was Dorum, _the legends tell of a cat, named Solembum, who walked at your hip like a dog does a man._

Angela threw her head back. "You make me sound old!" she complained "but I'm sure you'll see him around, where I go, he goes, he's probably hiding."

Lillyan nodded, thanked her once more and with a wave stepped out the door.

MURTAGH

Lillyan was…different. Somehow…neutral. She'd known him all her life, never by name, never by history, just from afar. She was a shadow in the distance to him, he was a shadow in the distance to her. It always seemed uneven though. As though the distance between her and him were smaller than the one between him and her.

Perhaps it was just that she was related to Eragon. That one day or another she would find out who he was, what he did, and never view him in the same way again. The sweet, mildly interested eyes would never fly across his face, a flicker of recognition flaming up within them and dying in the same instant as though to say 'I've seen you before, but I've never seen your ways', they would be gone, instead there would be a scowl a glare, fixed to a point where he wasn't. Murtagh had seen it a million times. Elves, humans, dwarves…it always happened.

Not anymore. They wouldn't glare at him in disrespect and disgust any longer, no, he would earn his respect alright. He would change his clumsy, ever flailing, fumbling mind, he'd be good, that was it. He would sign up to be a warrior, train, protect Lillyan. Would she scowl at her then? When he was at her side with a sword on his hip and a shield his hand, with the oath on his lips to always protect her, even if it cost his own worthless life. He hoped the answer would be no, no she wouldn't scowl at him. All he wanted to do was life his life with no watchful and hateful gazes fixed on his every move. Even at that moment while he thoughtfully stroked Thorn's scaly head, the servants were taking in his movements from the windows of the trees.


	15. Fight and flight

LILLYAN

It'd been a week since the 'prophecy'. Lillyan was lying on the log Eragon taught her on and fiddling with the tiny bottle Angela had given her. What was it for? What did Angela mean; she'd know what to do when the time came? Dorum with his impressive growth spurt had reached the size of a horse. Eragon reckoned it was unnatural. He couldn't remember Saphira being that big only two weeks after her hatching. However, there he was, his wings outstretched, his tail whipping from side to side. Then, quite suddenly, his head cocked upwards, his muscles clenched and he was in the air, desperately flopping his too-big looking wings before falling back to the ground a couple of metres further from where he had begun, startling a pair of duelling elves. They greeted him, and asked to stroke his nose, but Dorum was not interested, he repeated the action several times before plonking down beside Lillyan on the floor and huffing.

_I will manage one day, _he decided.

'_one day' is a dangerous phrase, _Lillyan pointed out.

_You're right…_Dorum admitted. He was remembering the story Eragon had told them about how Saphira had picked him up quite suddenly and flown him into the forest. That was, more or less, why, several minutes later Lillyan was dangling from Durum's great claw, her face forced in the direction of the far away ground.

She did not feel particularly well and could have sworn she felt part of her lunch sliding around inside her stomach.

_Dorum, as well as being windy, uncomfortable and very tight, this position makes me feel sick, at least let me climb on your back._

Deloi-Orum loosened his grip and Lillyan clambered onto the opposite claw, hugging his leg since she could not reach his neck. _Curse being small. _Dorum turned onto his back and began falling, but Lillyan realising his trick, danced across his belly, dodging scale and claw held onto his tail and as Eloi turned over once more, she scrambled onto his back.

_I don't think that any rider has ever had to go through a similar manoeuvre, _Dorum chuckled and without warning dived straight towards the earth.

Lillyan's eyes were forced open by the wind, her hair feeling as though it might be torn from her head any minute and her mouth pressed against each other in extreme concentration not to open it. The ground was coming closer. Her heart beat racing. She wanted him to pull up, but not pull up. It was thrilling, fast, fun and absolutely terrifying but the ground…so fast!

_My life is in your claws, if I die, I will kill you, _Lillyan threatened. Loiru chuckled once more and as suddenly as he had dived; pulled upwards spread his wings and sailed gently towards the sunset.

_What was that about? _

_Experiment…_

SYRAI

Farrón was there, glaring at him.

"Have you been a little snitch?" he interrogated, his sword in hanging from his one hand being stroked by the other.

Syrai shook his head.

Farrón raised an eyebrow, "SPEAK BOY!" he screamed.

"I have not told anybody or anything,"

The boy nodded and put his sword back into its holder.

"In that case, the…err…he wants a job from you,"

Syrai looked at his feet. Of course…him.

"find out what Angela sais about the girl's…"

"Lillyan," Syrai corrected solemnly.

"Lillyan's 'outburst' was about,"

Syrai agreed. That didn't sound too bad.

A LIBRARY

The books were in their usual places? Yes of course, they always were. Except now Lillyan's inside library was covered in sheets of paper, loose parts of information, ideas, pictures that did not fit together. Not quite yet. Miniature Lillyan scrambled after them, letting out exasperated sounds when she dropped some or more appeared. The stream was never ending. How could she possibly catch up? Actual Lillyan had to get into a quiet place so that she could think, thoroughly and properly and sort the mess out. More sheets appeared as little and big Lillyan begun to worry. What if they never caught up, if her mind would forever be a room full of scattered papers?

A sheet with an image appeared in little Lillyan's hands. A mighty sunset was depicted on it along with a thought 'I am in a quiet place now'. She felt as big Lillyan withdrew from her outer shell. Into the library of thoughts, feelings and memories. Little Lillyan was strong again and quickly collected all the papers, placed them on the desk and read.

_Blue, blue the water, blue,_

_Blue like the sea,_

_Blue like the sky,_

_Sapphire blue,_

This was the song that kept coming up. What did it mean? Blue clearly was Eragon and Saphira who were fighting to beat Galbatorix and win the countries freedom. Red was thorn and Murtagh. How did the song end? She didn't know. Then another thought.

_How come Eragon did not come for me when I was younger?_

Which lead to another:

_Did he and my parents lose touch?_

Then came a theory. Eragon had done something or decided something (possibly to do with Blodgharm) that had annoyed Lillyan's parents, they had moved away, lost touch, never told him about her and therefor she had only just met him.

There were also papers with single words on them. Storm, prophecy, Syrai? Egg, Saphira, thorn?

Lillyan searched through, it must have been hundreds of them and by the time Dorum was landing and big Lillyan returned to the real world, she hadn't gotten anywhere. What was the point? Her library was slowly falling apart. Everything she knew was being questioned, searched and marked as an unreliable source.

Normal Lillyan stretched, jumped off Dorum and only just realising where she was, turned to Dorum.

_Why have you brought me here?_

_Because this is where I was laid, found and now it is the first place I ever flew to. It is safe and it is comfortable, and if we ever get into the kind of trouble, Lillyan, you and I, that you cannot discuss or fight your way out of, then we will fly here and we will hide, like he rabbits in the holes, and we will wait until the trouble is over._

Lillyan looked at the sun glinting off the flat surface of the rock, the large caves, the long way down to the bottom of the cliff, the long way up to the top of the cliff, and she sucked it all into herself. She may not know much, or understand what was happening to her, Syrai or the history of Eragon, but she did know that Dorum, her dragon, was right.

_It's the nicest place to hide…_

she agreed and imagined the long winters, snugly tucked by Dorum's warm, scaly sides, the summer's they would spend flying together, the foraging and collecting, hunting and diving and it was as though she had finally, after 11 years of being pushed into different houses, unwanted by every one of them, she had found a home and a family. She looked at Dorum, he looked at her.

…_with you._

**Working furiously at the chaps! But I don't think I'll manage it before the 8****th****, but I'll try my best. If you liked the chappie, please review, and if you didn't, review anyway and tell me why, thank you and good bye!**


	16. Anger and hate

MURTAGH

_Be careful…_

_I will, I will! _Murtagh patted thorn on the nose, who sneezed over his shoes. Murtagh lifted his foot, dragging grey-brown gloop-strings with on the soles of his feet which snapped and shot over his toes with a sickening noise.

_Yes, great, thank you Thorn, _Thorn peered down at the shoe with his house-sized head. He carefully tickled the goo with his tongue.

_Now that's just disgusting! _Murtagh yelped in his mind, stepping out of the squishy puddle and wiping his show on the grass.

_Sorry!_

Murtagh started towards the line of elves queuing before a table on which 3 elder elves were sitting.

_And don't make a fool of yourself…_

_Again? _Murtagh mocked himself darkly; _nothing could be as bad as…_

A shiver ran the length along Thorn's massive spine. Murtagh continued and placed himself behind a tall dark green coloured elf with long orange hair in several large plaits. He gave Murtagh a friendly look, looked away, and realising who it was scowled off somewhere in the distance as though it was Murtaghs fault that the elf had not recognised him.

"Name?" the elder elf asked after a while, and Murtagh realised that the green elf was right in front of him.

"Reidro," the elf replied.

"intention?" the next elf asked.

"To protect the new rider from harm,"

"Preferred weapon," the third asked. He was sitting beside a large pile of weapons.

"bow and arrow, but I can fight with the sword as well,"

The third elf let his hand hover over the last bow and arrow before grabbing an entirely silver sword. He handed it to the green elf, who, as soon as the metal touched his body, turned entirely silver and his hair black.

"Name?" the first elf was repeating, his pen poised over the scroll on which he was writing all the names. The list was incredibly long.

"Murtagh,"

The first elf looked up, shocked.

"intention?" the next elf gasped.

"To protect the new rider and prove my innocence," Murtagh replied honestly.

"preferred weapon?" the third elf said quietly. His eyes were entirely black, his eyebrows pulled down into a deep scowl.

"Sword," Murtagh tapped Zar'roc.

Silently the elves pointed towards where the chameleon-elf had been sent to.

It was a field with 8 different tables on which elves could prove their separate skills.

Murtagh sat in front of an empty table where, to his surprise, Angela was sitting with her hands on her lap.

"I'd thought you'd turn up," she remarked in normal human language.

"I hoped you wouldn't" Murtagh replied in his home language as well. How long had it been since he had spoken the tongue out loud? Years, so many years. Even when he spoke to Thorn he sometimes switched to the ancient language. He forgot a word in his language, he replaced it with the ancient language…

"You're not the only one…" She looked slightly insulted.

"What are you doing here?" Murtagh questioned, finding himself once again entangled in the ancient language.

"morals…"

"Dear god, you?" Murtagh couldn't help himself. He grinned, Angela smiled back.

"You obviously have some, other whilst you wouldn't be here,"

"I didn't know what this table tested…" He reminded her. Angela shrugged.

"Well, you've passed, you can move on now."

Murtagh blinked at her, "excuse me?"

"move on!"

SYRAI

Syrai sat at Lillyan's pond. Was she coming? She usually did, but today. Had she noticed him acting oddly? Had he been acting oddly? Oh dear she had, hadn't she. She'd notice everything. She would figure it out. She could see straight through him.

The longer he sat the more worried he got. She knew and so, feeling that no one could be trusted she fled with her dragon? Oh!

A little gold fish poked it's head out of the water.

_Hello, _it greeted him. Syrai had waded into the water with his trousers rolled up, but when the fish spoke he fell backward on his backside into the water and sat there, between water reeds and fish, his body in water up to his waist.

_You seem to be looking for your friend, can that be, ah, that beautiful little elf girl with the long hair and beautiful eyes, the kind heart…she gave me the ability of speech you know._

Syrai nodded, that sounded exactly like something Lillyan would do. Syrai thought back.

_You're Adurni õ karráy! _He remembered eventually. The fish swam a little circle and joyfully flapped its fins.

_Your friend flew off on a green-blue lump, it's hard to tell from beneath the water. She was clinging onto it's leg. Oh and then they fell…and then they weren't falling!_

Syrai looked at the fish. _Very helpful_, he thought to himself sarcastically. So Dorum could fly now, and he had taken Lillyan with him. Syrai hit the water with his fist.

She'd never stop it would she? Running off, never caring what was ahead of her, never thinking to turn around and tell him what she was doing. NEVER. He would always be the dog chasing after it's very fast master. Always the donkey after the carrot, the follower, the protector. She'd never even THINK of him and his feelings, did she know how much it hurt him when she spoke with Dorum? How he itched to be a part of their conversations. Did they talk about him behind his back? Most probably. There he sat, next to her and she wouldn't talk, no not even look at him. SHE'D NEVER TELL HIM WHERE SHE'D BEEN, WHAT SHE'D DONE.

He'd projected his last thought outwards and knew he'd probably regret it soon.

_Syrai just…_ Syrai turned his head. There was Lillyan, and beside her, her faithful dragon. _Just stop. _She sounded hurt, wounded, her emotions flooding through her message lie they usually never did. To his dismay they were all bad. Sadness, disappointment, guilt, regret…

There she was off again, running down the path, whimpering. Whimpering? Yes, whimpering. The dragon stayed, his majestic head held high so that he could peer down at the boy. Then Dorum flapped his one wing in outrage and flicking his tail, trotted down the path.

Syrai looked at the gold fish.

_I should just…_be nice? Give up? apologise? So many options to end that sentence. Lillyan's was best. _Stop._

**I have fed you puzzle pieces, theories…misleading characters (perhaps…I'm not ENTIRLY sure yet) but now the circle is slowly tightening. Anyone claustrophobic, run for their lives (oops, that means me, bye!) anyone confused by the story, jump straight in! **

**Erm…yes, anyways, hope u liked the chappie, and don't forget to review! **


	17. Passed times

LILLYAN

Legs crossed, Dorum on the floor beside the bed – he was too big to fit on it – Lilyan tried to read the scroll. It was about the royal family. There were many kings and queens listed, several of them large family trees, others unrelated, as the politics went with the elves, but Lillyan was concentrating mainly on the last couple of kings and queens. Islanzadí – Arya – Eragon – Eragon and Arya – Abrayda? Lillyan let her finger run over her father's name. So Abrayda was Eragon's son.

There was a knock on the door and Lillyan quickly tucked the scroll beneath her pillow – it was from the palaces library and she wasn't sure whether she was actually allowed to have it – and opened the door. Lillyan silently greeted and Arya greeted her back.

"You are my granddaughter," she started, inspecting her from head to toe as though she had to make quite sure she had the right person before her, "yet, we have not spoken a word to one another, so this is my attempt to make conversation,"

Lillyan signalled her to sit in her room and talk and so Arya perched on the edge of the bed while Lillyan resumed her crossed legged position in the centre of the bed. Arya turned to her and looked at her once more from head to toe.

"You have your father's eyes," she nodded, "and hair…"

She looked at her hands.

_What was he like? _Arya peeked between strains of hair, _my father…_Lillyan confirmed.

Arya put her head in her palm for a minute, then took out a slate-like block and leant over it for a while. Lillyan, realising what she was doing, patiently awaited the picture and when it arrived she was stunned. The man on the slate was, unlike her, tall, but other than that he was completely identical. Hair (except the length), eyes, nose, ears, face shape…Lillyan longed for him.

"He was…different," Arya told "like you, but he spoke. He spoke with animals in his mind and with people with his mouth. He had a very, very large and forgiving heart, but he was always quite edgy, always suspecting the worst. He heard things no one else did, felt things before they arrived…" when she said that Arya looked from the slate to Lillyan and back, "and he loved you very dearly." She paused before continuing. "It's not a nice way to think, but the last time Abrayda saw his father, they were both so angry that I always get the feeling he…passed away, just to give Eragon lesson. Oh, they had some fall out about…well about…that doesn't matter, but it was a very big argument with a lot of things that no one meant. That's enough about that or else another part of my soul will die in pain, Lillyan, tell me about YOURself"

Lillyan shook her head, _I don't know what to say…but, could I ask you one more question? Why does Eragon always have a sad look in his eye?_

Arya chuckled "You really are quite observant. Well…do you know what happened on the day Saphira vanished?"

That was the second time she had heard that question. Lillyan put her head from side to side, more or less.

"Well, He was fighting Murtagh and Saphira disappeared, some say that it was Galbatorix who appeared on the horizon at that minute, but…who knows? Eragon disappeared, Saphira disappeared and Thorn and Murtagh were left plummeting to the ground. Galbatorix saved him and brought him back to his castle. On that same day, there was another fight. After hours of searching we found Eragon on the edge of the Hadarac desert. Then Murtagh came, limping over, without his dragon, half his life ripped out of him and tried to kill tired, thirsty and pretty much also half-dying Eragon. Eragon won, but soon after Galbatorix caught up with him and beat him to within an inch of death. He was hung, taken for dead, by a tree and luckily we found him soon after and saved him, but he still has to carry the guilt and feeling of failure with him everywhere he goes…talking of going, I must leave you now Lillyan and I hope to see you at dinner tonight."

SYRAI

He stepped into Lillyan's room as soon as he saw Arya leave and gently closed the door behind him.

_Yes?_ Lillyan called out, of course she heard him, even for elf standards she had unbelievable hearing.

"It's me," Syrai replied guiltily.

Lillyan did not bother to look up from her slate as he entered the room. However, before he had a chance to speak she was already sending him images of the cage, the feeling of home, the flying, the falling, the climbing…she sent him the feeling, sight, smell, sound and more everything that belonged to it, every conversation ,thought, the bit in the library.

_Now I have told you, _she explained, _now you may apologise._

Syrai smiled, "Dearest Lillyan, I am an absolute dimwit…"

_Indeed, entirely brainless!_

"exactly, an unintelligent, dim, thick, witless wreck!"

_And I hate you!_

"and I hate you too, now can we please be friends again!"

Lillyan smiled at him, _if we HAVE to be, _she teased.

"It's absolutely essential!"

_Life threatening?_

"the world is on the verge of collapse!"

_Very well then._

They grinned at each other

Later on though, Syrai wanted to kick himself though. Lillyan had felt guilty and depressed all afternoon and him? he had been annoyed and guilty, annoyed at HER and guilty because of what he had done, but she hadn't done anything wrong. Lillyan did not tell him much no, but did he tell her about him being blackmailed, how he still had to corner Angela and pry information from her mind, not even for his own curious self, no, for a complete stranger to give to HIM. He wouldn't even tell her who HE was even though it was absolutely vital for her to know! Syrai looked at his door. It was just across the hall. Third door on the left. What if she was asleep? he could always tell her the next day...

**sorry it's going so quickly! but i have no computer tommorow, so i thought i'd be the determined writer today and get it over with, i have even written half of chapter 17! anyway, that's all i'm posting for today (wow, that actually still sounds like i'm talking about only one very short chappie) so enjoy!**

**and don't forget to review! **


	18. Family feelings

MURTAGH

It was even more than he had ever hoped for. Not only was he protector of the new rider along with Reidro the chameleon-elf, but he was also to teach her about being a rider, though he had not gotten the training quite like Eragon, Galbatorix had told him the basic idea of what the mad king thought was a 'unreliable system'.

There she was crossing the grounds with her dragon, watching him, still with friendly eyes. Would that change as soon as she heard his name?

"My names Murtagh," he announced

_I know, _she replied unexpectedly and looked up at him, her eyes still friendly.

"I've been warned you don' t talk," Murtagh replied as if he had never expected her to be horrified at his name. "I'm going to teach you what I know and…"

_I knew that too, _Lillyan told him sulkily.

Murtagh cocked his head to the side, what was this about? "what else do you know?"

_I know that elves can lie, _this surprised him. How so? Wasn't the ancient language lie proof?

_My tutor told me a rider's main priorities are the elves, but that is not true is it? _

Murtagh shook his head. _I also know that they lie because they say dragons are extinct, which they cannot be, because you have a dragon and Saphira is most probably alive somewhere too, and I have a dragon._

"Yes, but I have had to keep thorn secret for his whole life, no one knows where Saphira is and you are yet to be discovered,"

Lillyan thought about that for a minute and her sulky tone changed, _I like you, _she decided, _you're honest enough to admit that. _ Then obviously returning to her elven manners, she greeted him and introduced herself fully as Lillyan Daughter of Eyra and Abrayda and rider of Deloi-Orum.

_May I meet thorn? _She part asked part suggested then. Murtagh smiled and nodded and led her to the massive dragon.

He was within the walls of the palace in a large field attached to a ginormous tree by a very impressive chain and a ring around his neck.

_Why that's horrible! _Lillyan cried and Murtagh was about to take offence- thinking she meant the dragon – when he realised she was pointing at the chain.

She walked up to the dragon without fear and stroked it's claw of which each finger and nail were at least twice the size of her.

Dorum slinked to her side and looked like a flee in front of a dog, a tiny green-blue speck in a mountain of red. Thorn grunted happily and sniffed at Lillyan, causing her hair to almost rip from her head. Murtagh saw the guards rise to their feet behind the windows of the trees.

_That's quite enough of that, thorn! _Murtagh demanded. Thorn looked at the guards and growled, a deafening sound that made the whole field rumble.

"So, Lillyan, can Deloi-Orum fly yet?"

_Yes I can,_ the dragon boasted _and it's Dorum, Eloi or Loiru._

SYRAI

Whether it had any symbolic meaning, Syrai did not know, but since it was the only tree in the town that someone lived in, even though it had a ginormous knot in the middle of it so that it looked like a snake that had just eaten a mouse, Syrai thought it would be a nice place to begin.

Sure enough, a few minutes after he had knocked, the door opened and revealed the mighty Angela garbed in the most orange dress Syrai had ever seen – and wished he had never seen it, since his eyes stung from it for quite a while after.

Angela expressed first surprise then joy with two simple noises 'bah!' and 'ah!' then yanked the boy in by his collar and threw him into a chair.

"I wasn't expecting you," she confessed.

Syrai combed through his hair with his fingers and nervously tapped the floor with his feet.

"Tea?" Syrai shook his head. Angela made herself a tea and put one in front of Syrai, just in case, and expectantly awaited his reasoning for arriving uninvited.

"I wanted to ask about Lillyan's…prophecy,"

Angela nodded and waited. Syrai looked at her and waited. They waited together in silence for about five minutes before Angela finally snapped impatiently, "Well, go on then!"

Syrai shook his head confused, "err…?"

"You said that you wanted to ASK me about Lillyan's prophecy, so ask!"

Syrai put his arms on the armrests of his chair. Was she serious?

"Could you tell me about Lillyan's outburst, why, how and whether or not it's true, along those lines."

Angela put her cup on the table. Her eyes grew large, her shoulders slumped. Had he done something wrong?

"Those aren't very imaginative questions," she noted.

Syrai growled from within himself. The woman was totally out of her mind! Could she just finally answer his questions and stop teasing him!

"Well," she looked out of her window "there is no easy way to say this Syrai, but Lillyan is psychologically confounded,"

Syrai's jaw tightened, his vision dropped to the table which he scowled at. "Your saying she's…"

"insane? No, not quite. Just…different. Syrai don't you notice? She hears things others don't, sees things that aren't there, understands things when she only has half the information…or at least she thinks she understands it. I spoke to her one night during dinner and she explained to me how she thinks, about her _library, _according to most, I'm not the one to speak for crowds, but as far as I know, not many people think like that,"

"No one does…" Syrai wanted to scream, kick the woman and shout at her. Tell her it wasn't true, that nothing she said had anything to do with reality, but she was right. "Why?" he whispered.

Angela thought about that.

"There was a thunderstorm," she began, "The one that you weren't there, but her screams echoed through the halls, mostly nothing but shrieks, but in between that single words, actually only three, Syrai, blue and red. Both her mother and father died in thunderstorms, from what I have heard she was born during a thunderstorm, but that has nothing to do with it really. Her parents died during storms, she recollects something they said, most probably something about 'blue' and 'red' and every time there is thunder and lightning she remembers it…causing stress, she withdraws within herself. That's another sign of being 'emotionally injured' as far as I know. It was probably caused by the trauma of losing her mother and father and the thunderstorms bring her back into that state of horror, or she doesn't want them to bring her into the state of horror and therefore….the withdrawing," Angela took a deep breath "It's very complicated,"

Her eyes were still fixed on the window.

"So the prophecy…" Syrai was cut off.

"Oh no, no, no! Syrai, the prophecy is perfectly plausible AND possible. I was merely explaining why she acted the way she did, eyes glazed, stubbornness, urge to transmit the message to everyone. She wanted to save them from her own hurtful fate. The reason FOR the actual prophecy is slightly less complex and goes a little further back in Lillyan's family tree."

Syrai growled once more. Couldn't she possibly have mentioned that?

Angela stood up and turned to him and stared deep into his eyes. Hands trembling and eyes unblinking she told him in a deep hissing voice.

"Syrai don't you ever get the feeling in the pit of your stomach, a twinge in your heart, a doubt in your mind, the twitching of a finger, the feeling, oh not the feeling, it's a feeling and yet so much more than a feeling, a feeling you're so sure of and yet so scared of? A feeling of dread, of something about to happen…" She lifted her hands to the ceiling and let her gaze follow them "doomsday is upon us, but not quite, the end of the world is nigh, the storm is coming, and it's only you who knows. Only your feeling and no one believes you?"

Syrai only now realised he had stood up too. He was shaking. Why, why was he trembling? Was he scared? No. angry? No! He knew it was true, oh so true. So true that he had to shake about it? his mouth wanted to laugh, his eyes cry, his feet run, his arms dangle, his heart race, his mind calmly sit down and think.

Angela looked back down at him, and still facing him, watched the window out of the corner of her eye.

"There are some, they have a very good sensor in the pit of their stomach, in the back of their minds, a the tips of their fingers, and so on…some through generations of listening and watching, some because they are willing to. Abrayda, Lillyan's father, a friend of mine – god rest his soul, he had a good feeling, but his wife had an even better one. Eyra, ahh, Eyra she said her name was, but she was once known by a different name. One that was feared and sent a shiver down the spines of those who spoke, no even thought it. She was blessed yet cursed to help, and she, of she had the best feeling of all. Best hearing. Best sight. She, my dear friend, was Elva."

Syrai shivered. _Coincidence!_ He thought angrily. It had nothing to do with the name! "…but I don't understand…Lillyan is QUARTER human, not half, Elva was a human! And why did she change her name?"

Angela smiled at him and nodded. "Well that's the mathematical bit. If Abrayda had married an elf, Lillyan would be daughter of a quarter human, three quarter elf and whole elf, which would make Lillyan half of a quarter of an elf- therefor an eighth of an elf" Syrai blinked at her… "If he had married a human, she would be half human plus and eighth. However, Abrayda married a human, who accidentally, due to a certain dinner party and bad table conversation – don't ask – was transformed into an elf, well, almost elf, 3 quarters of an elf, thus, Lillyan was a quarter, that brings to how she changed her name, feeling that being an elf meant she was different, she renamed herself to Eyra."

Syrai glowered at his full tea cup "Frankly, Angela, that sounds like a lot of elaborate tripe,"

Angela shrugged "which means, I couldn't possibly have made it up, meaning it's true, now if you excuse me, I have a meeting to get to,"

**I realise this chapter has become MUCH longer than usual…but, I invented that on the way home from where I was (classified due to security reasons, I am REALLY paranoid) and then I remembered it didn't make sense and had to explain it in much more detail…sorry!**


	19. AGH!

LILLYAN

Book, riddle:

Chapter song: Last verse known to Lillyan is about red falling, rider unattached. Why does it stop? Does someone dislike the song?

Chapter Murtagh: red rider, is he trying to redeem himself? Should he be trusted? Yes.

Chapter Syrai: why is he acting so oddly?

Chapter Eragon: He is sad due to failure. What did he fight about with Abrayda?

Chapter…

"Lillyan!"

Lillyan surfaced back to reality where Murtagh was standing on Thorn, who threw Dorum tumbling several hundred metres through the air every few minutes he flapped with his gigantic wings. Lillyan sat tightly attached to Dorum's saddle which Murtagh had given her. Thorn flapped and Loiru was catapulted, whirling tail overhead. Lillyan watched the world blur and then steady as Dorum found his balance and darted back.

"Try again!" Murtagh yelled. Carrying a target board, a head shaped all of hay with a red dot painted in the middle of it, and a leather body suit for protection, Murtagh was laping up and down on the bored red dragon and pointed at the ball with a bandaged finger. Lillyan had been a _little_ out of practice.

Lillyan steadied the bow, put the arrow in place, pulled and…Thorn flapped, she dropped the arrow and was blown away as a high speed cannon ball which at first had made her dizzy but after three hours just made her frustrated.

Thorn could only go as high as the chain let him, so it was unfair for Dorum to fly in such a position so that shooting was easy, she had to stay at such an angle that the head was partially hidden behind Murtaghs chest and she was just in behind Thorn's unbelievably wing so that even the slightest movement, tilt, flutter sent both rider and dragon summersaulting away.

Dorum repositioned himself and Lillyan took aim and fired as fast as was elf-ly possible.

Murtagh nodded proudly at the head. Finally she had hit it, even though it was not in the red dot, but it was better than nothing. Thorn lowered himself to the ground –Lillyan and Eloi were flung upwards – and then the two youngsters followed.

Lillyan massaged her aching arms and Dorum his hurting wings and they both collapsed on each other.

_Ow Dorum! That was my head!_

_Oops! _Dorum lifted his tail and blinked apologetically at Lillyan who was rubbing her nose,.

Thorn laughed.

_You two remind me of…_

He trailed off.

All four, Thorn, Dorum, Murtagh and Lillyan peered over the field at two boys who were duelling and speaking at the same time. Farrón and Syrai.

"NO! YOU…" Lillyan heard Farrón scream faintly in the distance.

"…CAN'T!" Syrai was screaming back. He screamed more but it was unintelligible over the whistling of the wind.

Murtagh turned to Lillyan "you have the rest of the day off to recover, maybe help a friend out…" he cocked his head in the direction of the two boys, "have a good day!" Murtagh stroked his dragons nostril and the leapt back as if remembering something. Thorn chuckled. Then he turned to Dorum.

_Deloi-Orum, you are a good flyer for your age, and an interesting colour, I have faith in you and hope you will never judge me on my history and only on my here and now_

Dorum snorted; _of course I don't judge you Thorn-elda!_

Dorum and Lillyan waved/snorted and set off toward the bickering boys.

SYRAI

What had he gotten himself into?

Farrón glowered at him. "Syrai," he hissed, "If you do NOT do as HE tells you…" he put up his finger and let it slice through the air in front of his neck, and then he turned and stalked. He watched the boy until he was nothing but a dot and then turned.

"AGH!" he yelled jumping backwards when he almost walked into Lillyan.

_I was wondering when you would finally notice me, _Lillyan grinned but put her hands on her hips, _what was that about? Why were you fighting? _

Syrai greeted her, let her greet him back and then shrugged. "I accidentally took his sword,"

Lillyan looked up at her dragon and nodded barely noticeably. The dragon turned and walked back towards a walled and windowed square of lawn with an opening in which Syrai could see the end of a huge red tail.

Lillyan dropped her arms and squinted at him. She could tell he was lying, but she didn't say anything, just studied him to see if she could find any clue as to why he was lying. Finally she gasped and sat down on the grass.

"What's wrong…?"

DORUM

_Don't you get lonely?_

_Lonely, bored, thoughtful…_Thorn replied.

Dorum jumped up and circled the dragon.

_What's it like being so big?_

_Clumsy…_

Dorum let himself drop onto the grass, his scales shimmered from green to blue, from blue to light blue, olive green, turquoise…

_May I ask you something? _Thorn inquired.

_You just did…_

_Where did you hatch?_

_Outside the cave I was laid in. It's a very tall black-grey rock with lots of traces of dragons._

Thorn's eyes, the size of full grown humans piled on top of each other until they made a full circle, looked panicked as they flicked from Dorum to Murtagh who was leaning on the wall on the far side of the field.

Syrai jogged towards Dorum who gave him one disinterested look and returned to Thorn.

"Dorum!" Syrai yelled, "Dorum, Lillyan needs you!"

Deloi-Orum looked at him in a confused way, he could feel Lillyan's presence in his mind and it did not seem at all alarmed.

"She's unconscious, lying near the pond at the edge of the town!"

Loiru opened his wings to take flight.

"Wait take me with you!"

The dragon, already in the air, caught the edge of Syrai's shirt with his claw as he flapped as fast as he could.

THORN

'_It's a very tall black-grey rock with lots of traces of dragons,'_

Murtagh gave Murtagh a quizzical look. _What about it?_

_That's what Dorum said! _Thorn repeated desperately.

Murtagh shook his head in confusion.

_THAT MEANS HE'S MY SON!_

Murtagh blinked at him. "You have GOT to be kidding me…" he put his hands on his head.

_You and…?_

Thorn nodded. Saphira….

"Are you telling me the short, VERY short time you and her were in the same prison cell, you managed to make up and…"

Thorn nodded again.

"holy…" Murtagh kicked the floor.

_And then we set her free and she LAID it on the same day?_

Thorn sighed, _Dragon's childbearing process is…complicated._

"I believe you on that!" Murtagh cried. He sat down with his back to Thorn.

Was he angry with him? He couldn't tell, he'd shut him out.

_Well…congratulations, _Murtagh said after a while he turned around and smiled. _You have a son!_

**Anyone surprised? I very much hope so! If you were, please review! And if you weren't, tell me what gave it away (I probably won't believe you though) :D**


	20. errplease help me, i have no title?

**This is Couldbe's Realist side speaking: I am not going to manage this story by the day after tommorow, SO, i hope you lot will continue reading it anyway. Just take it as a 'what would have happened if...' story instead of 'my idea of the last book is interwined with this rather complicated and confusing' story. So, happy readings!**

SYRAI

Now he couldn't even back out. It was too late. Too late. Dorum screamed and kicked and growled as the elves forced the ring over his neck and screwed it shut. He scratched at his neck until it bled over his beautiful colour-changing scales. He bit and tried to attack the elves as they rammed the wooden pole into the ground. YOUR MAKING IT WORSE! He wanted to scream. He didn't he just stood and watched. Then when the last chain link had been double checked, the strength of the pole checked and the metal ring tightened, the elves left and Dorum was sitting opposite him, the chain too short for him to reach Syrai and hey stared at each other.

_Why?_ Dorum's voice echoed through his head. Echoed with pain, misery and longing.

And Syrai just stood and wanted to cry. He wanted to hug the dragon and tell him that it would be alright and he hadn't meant it. But he had. He had tricked Dorum. Tricked a dragon. Tricked a friend.

Syrai turned his back on the green-blue animal. The dragon let out a deafening, heart breaking, brain shattering, hurt, help-pleading roar and by the time it was finished Syrai was gone.

LILLYAN

_DELOI-ORUM? Dorum? Where are you?_

_Near._

_Why won't you come?_

_I can't._

_Why not?_

There was a loud howl. Near the pond. Lillyan sprinted to it and cried out in horror and disbelief.

_WHY?_

_Why?_

The dragon chained, blood streaming from the ringed neck, breath wheezy from the tightness. The scales were duller as though material fog had covered them and the colour changing was slow.

Dorum looked at her.

_Lillyan I think I'm dying._

Lillyan shook her head and jumped through the water to get to him. Her tunic was soaking by the time she got there, but she didn't stop, she leapt upon the dragon and yanked at the collar.

_No please, OW!_

Lillyan's hand slid off the ring.

_Who did this to you?_

_Altogether or the mastered ring and chain links, the beautifully carved pole and the hammering into the ground? _Dorum growled. He was blood thirsty, she could tell.

_I am going to personally kill the person who did this to you! _

_I wouldn't say that, it was Syrai._

Lillyan jumped off Dorum's back and walked towards the water. When her feet were entirely covered in the see through liquid she collapsed onto her knees and put her forehead under water so that her eyes were covered. There was her little library on the inside of her eyelid. Just a flickering picture of it. Then a book. A thick book with the title 'Syrai' and little Lillyan with a pencil hovering over the last page, a blank page. The pencil snapped, the vision finished. Lillyan sat up, She felt the droplets of water glide down her face and with them the tears that the her human part let her have.

_I'll be back in a couple of minutes, _she said as calmly as she could muster, even though she knew that Dorum knew about the whirlwind of emotions within her soul.

Lillyan ran. She usually loved running, loved the sound of her feet hitting the ground, the crunching of twigs, rustling of leaves, she had grown up running, but at that moment it was not to be enjoyed. At that moment she was crying for the first time in her life and she was running, and the crying made the running unbearable.

SYRAI

Farrón grinned at him.

"Good job!"

Syrai would hardly call it a good job. A crime, a sickening scam perhaps, a scandal, a sin, a lie, a horror…maybe just, but it was worse, oh so much worse.

"The day after tomorrow," Syrai recalled, "We let him go!"

Farrón's grin widened. "Day after tomorrow,"

LILLYAN

_How do you mean?_

Blodgharm sighed. "I'm afraid your dragon tried to attack Syrai, therefor he is a liability, he could attack anyone." He said in monotone as though it weren't really him saying it.

_He's dying! He can't breathe!_

Blodgharm looked suddenly very alarmed "Where is he?"

Lillyan grabbed hold of his arm and started running. Syrai crossed their paths with Farrón. Lillyan stopped. Syrai stopped. Farrón walked on. Blodgharm stayed close behind Lillyan.

Lillyan and Syrai stared at each other.

"Syrai…" Lillyan muttered and then screamed "SYRAI!"

She thrust her arm forward, but Syrai caught it mid-punch.

"As much as I deserve that punch, your feelings and face and tears are enough."

_And so is this Syrai, I'd like you to remember these words, VERY CLEARLY. I don't talk, barely, never…Rarely. So I'm going to talk now, the first time I've ever said a full sentence in my whole life, and guess what the sentence is Syrai._

Syrai took a deep breath. "What?"

"I. Hate. You."

**Any confusions, please say, it's hard to keep up with what i HAVE said and HAVN'T said, it's that sort of a story where the writer spoon-feeds the information to the readers. At least that's what i thought it was it's up to you to decide really...hope you've liked it so far!**


	21. Shaded times

**Yes I do know what day it is, therefore I realise it will probably be a while before anyone reads this chappie, no I have not looked at my calendar, but yes, as I said, I do know the date, no I do not have the book (curse the wretched dentist!) and I probably will not have it for a while (curse the fact that I am penniless) so, I will continue to sit at my desk, lonely and bored, and I will type until my fingers throb (not necessarily just on this story) so read, don't read or rub it in my face that I have not the blessing you all have. (Justmeagain123, you better have the blooming book finished by tomorrow, or I'll kill you!)**

LILLYAN

Blodgharm stepped back and viewed his work. "I'm sorry Lillyan, that's all I can do; he is bound in the most complicated way I have seen since Thorn's 'bindings'"

Dorum wasn't wheezing any more, which was a relief, but his wings were limp and his head was on the floor in boredom and misery.

_Can't Eragon do anything about it? He __is__ the king!_

Blodgharm raised an eyebrow "He…doesn't like spectacles…"

Lillyan scowled. That was hardly a proper reason! That was hardly a reason at all. _Well tell the non-spectacle kin, I shall not be joining his feast nor sleep in his chambers. If anyone needs me I will be here, with MY dragon! _She said childishly, and to top the childishness, she added, _except Syrai! He can go hang himself for all I care._

Blodgharm scratched his nose, "And you'd like me to convey that message…word for word?" Blodgharm was making it obvious that her behaviour had been immature.

_No, _she admitted sulkily, _just… _

She sat cross-legged next to the sighing dragon.

Blodgharm walked down the path.

_Blodgharm? _The blue elf stopped and half turned so his ear was pointed towards Lillyan. As though she spoke and it would make him hear her words better. _Tell him he is a horrible, psychopathic, arrogant Dragon-hater and that I never want to see him again, but tell him I didn't mean what I…spoke._

Blodgharm raised his head to the sky.

"I'm sure he would appreciate it more if it came from you,"

Then he continued down the path.

Lillyan looked at Dorum, Dorum at Blodgharm, Blodgharm at the world and the world at all three. Everything was silent. The water stilled, the trees stopped their rustling-talk to listen and the animals turned their heads to where they sat or stood.

_He's right you know, _Dorum agreed, letting out a deep meaningful breath. It broke the silence.

MURTAGH

Murtagh sat at the king's long table, the first time in a hundred years. He sat right next to where Lillyan was usually sat; did they think he would do something thoughtless? Why take the risk? It didn't make sense, but he was enjoying it never the less.

Lillyan was late. Had she not said she would come?

The blue elf entered the room – what was his name? Murtagh could not recall – and walked towards Eragon.

Something with B…

"Blodgharm!" Eragon called and greeted him. Blodgharm greeted back sullenly.

"Bad news your highness, Lillyan is…not to join us this night,"

Eragon's face fell; he had looked as though he had good tidings to bring. "Why ever not?"

Blodgharm raised his furry eyebrows, "Her dragon has…been tied up in some problems," His gaze flicked to Syrai and back to the king.

"Oh dear…" Eragon swallowed sadly and looked at the bottom of his empty wine cup. He sighed and then ordered Blodgharm to at the least bring her some food.

"I'll bring it!" Syrai offered. Blodgharm shook his head.

"I do not think that'd be…a preferred…" He stopped mid-sentence chewed on the side of his lip, received the tray of food from Eragon and hurried away without a backwards glance.

LILLYAN

Dorum slept peacefully as Lillyan returned the half empty tray to Blodgharm and went on an after-meal stroll. Was Syrai regretting it? Probably. He was probably hurt by what she'd said. Why had she been so snappy? Surely he must have had a reason. Or he was jealous. Lillyan kicked the ground. She had been angry, and therefor thoughtless, she had convinced herself that hurting Syrai would help Dorum, but it hadn't. If anything Deloi-Orum seemed quite understanding towards Syrai.

Lillyan recognised the Dorum's hunting ground, where he went to hunt when he was hungry and where the shade had attacked them. Lillyan shuddered at the memory of the crimson eyes and hair…

She walked towards the space and looked in all direction. Where had the shade come from? Had someone made it? had it made itself? Did it have an aim, or did it just run around the country side scavenging food. Was it there now, watching her from the trees, the bushes, following every move with its freakish eyes?

Lillyan sniffed the air. Apparently not.

A stick snapped. A bush rustled. Apparently not…

Lillyan sniffed again. The wind had changed and oh yes there was a shade…

Lurking in the shadows of the trees, Lillyan could smell its musty stench of old leaves, dust and mould.

Lillyan stretched out her hand and created a sword, it drew on her energy a lot more than usual, but there it was, in her hand, heavy and large but reassuring at the same time.

The shade stepped out, blinking, grinning. He put his head to the side and viewed Lillyan.

"Rider, rider, rider" it croaked "rider, rider where's your dragon?"

Lillyan didn't answer, couldn't answer, she didn't want the shade touching her mind, her touching his. Dorum was caught

"Rider, rider, rider," it coughed again "rider, rider, where's your sword?"

She had no rider's sword.

"Rider, rider, rider," it cackled "rider, rider, rider, rider"

Over and over again and then the shade was gone.

"RIDER, RIDER!" it screeched. Lillyan swivelled around to where the Shade stood, behind her, right behind her. Lillyan jumped back, but once again the shade had gone.

"R I D E R!" the shade screamed and Lillyan heard a horrible bone-crunching. The pain hit soon after, unbelievable pain. Lillyan bit her tongue and fell to the ground. She had dropped the sword; it was her left arm that had been injured, her stronger arm.

The shade stood over her now, looking down at her.

"Rider, rider, why don't you speak?"

It pulled the dagger out of Lillyan's arm, twisting it within the bone beforehand. He let the blood drip into his mouth, then it rolled it's eyes back into his head so they were entirely white and licking his blood-stained teeth.

Lillyan grabbed the sword with her right arm and thrust it into the shades heart.

"Rider, rider!" it squealed. "Where is your courage?"

SWEET DREAMS

_Eragon. Was he dead? Not quite. His shallow breaths caused his chest to vibrate, why was he still alive? Blodgharm and Arya carefully removed the thorns and branch from the hole in his neck and lay him across the ground._

"_Get anyone who knows magic," Arya commanded, Blodgharm was already running. She kneeled beside Eragon. He gasped._

"_Eragon? Eragon! It's Arya, can you hear me?" oh she was young, so much younger and so much prettier back then. Arya stroked the boys cheek. Eragon smiled. "You're alive," she whispered._

_Eragon groaned "I'd…rather…be…" he coughed, blood spraying through his teeth._

_Arya put her finger on his lips. She looked up, away, to where something was happening, but Lillyan couldn't see what, all she could see was Eragon and Arya._

_Then many people began to fill the opening, and they all started muttering spells until the young Eragon was healed. Eragon sat up and stretched. He stood up and looked at the people and he looked sad. _

"_I'm…" He fumbled for words. "I couldn't, I wasn't strong enough," he moved on and there was Blodgharm staring after him. _

Lillyan blinked. Her vision was blurry but she could faintly make out a ceiling of a room and faces hovering over her. Finally the blurriness faded.

Arya, beside several other elves were trying different methods to heal her arm.

"It won't work," she heard Angela's voice, at the same time pains shivered through her whole arm, causing her to yell and hit around. The elf who had been uttering the spell cut off and rubbed his head in frustration. Reidro? Yes, his skin was the same colour as the table he was leaning on. Did that mean Syrai was there too, and Murtagh? They were all part of her protectors.

"Told you it wouldn't work," Angela's voice echoed. It was from further away. A door slammed.

"Draumr!" Arya's hand waved over Lillyan's face and she returned to her memory-like dream.


End file.
